Together Forever
by xJasper-Jazulix
Summary: A story that starts when Lapis leaves Earth for Homeworld. Yellow Diamond keeps her prisoner, assigning a certain beefy Gem to be her captor. Follows the story through Jailbreak and beyond! Gem redemption. Episodic format. Eventual clash with Yellow Diamond. Lapis x Jasper. Lasper. Jaspis. Rated T for mild violence, language, and suggestive content.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all. This is my first fanfiction featuring Steven Universe characters and themes. It is mainly going to be LapisxJasper so if you're not interested, you are warned. I do not own Steven Universe characters and/or story themes. Some content from the actual show may be referenced to help enhance the story. Thanks for reading.**

LAPIS

"Thank you Steven!" Lapis Lazuli was filled with a feeling of joy she hadn't felt in thousands of years. Her gem was fixed, and this boy Steven, never gave up on helping her. Wings of water sprouted from the gem on her back. She smiled at Steven, then took flight towards the stars.

"I can finally be free." Lapis kept thinking to herself as she traveled the cosmos. "Home, I'll finally be able to go home."

She flew for what seemed to be a very long time, until she reached the outskirts of the Homeworld. She called forth power from her gem, and teleported to the surface.

Lapis' heart skipped. Large robotic looking buildings towered above her for miles. Gems of all colors and sizes walked the streets, and not a single one stopped to talk to one another. All the plant-life, rivers, and trees were gone from this area. Not a single one remained as far as Lapis could see. She fell to her knees.

"S-So much has changed... I can't believe it..." Tears streaked down Lapis' cheeks. "No...no...This can't be..." Lapis picked herself up and started walking down an empty alleyway between two iridescent green buildings.

"What is this..?" A gem stepped in front of Lapis, and blocked her path. This gem had a perfect white and yellow jumpsuit on, and a yellow gem in the middle of her chest. This gem grabbed Lapis' arm and looked at her fiercely.

"State your business and Identification code." the mystery Gem demanded.

"L-Lapis Lazuli! I just returned from the Earth." Lapis stuttered, hating the feeling of being man-handled by this Gem.

"Earth? That's the planet we are having Peridot research... Interesting. I was under the assumption that all Gems were annihilated from the Earth 5,000 years ago. Your information about that planet will be very useful to me." The yellow Gem grabbed Lapis and shoved her to the ground. A tech panel appeared with a little microphone.

"NAME AND IDENTIFICATION." the machine said.

"Yellow Diamond. 64725. Take this Gem to the hole." A yellow spark shot from the machine, hitting Lapis' body. She screamed, the electric shock zapped her Gem. She watched as her body disintegrated and she blacked out.

Lapis awoke in a white room. She was chained at the wrists, binding her into a chair. There was a table in front of her. Sitting across the table from her was the Gem who called herself Yellow Diamond. She glanced and saw a beefy looking guard standing at the door. There would be no hope of an easy escape.

"Lapis Lazuli. I see you've finally restored yourself. Please forgive me, but I could not just let a Gem from Earth, who potentially has important information, walk around freely." Yellow Diamond kept eye contact, her face was emotionless and hardened. "I'm going to have to ask you questions. Please answer as best as you can."

Lapis bit her bottom lip, unable to continue looking Yellow Diamond in the face. It was taking everything she had to keep herself from sobbing. She was hurt, confused, and failed to see why they wanted to ask her questions. She just wanted to be alone.

"Tell me your story, Lapis." Yellow Diamond took her chin, and forced Lapis to look at her.

"Well I... I was imprisoned in a mirror after the great war on Earth. I was trapped there until just a while ago, and was finally able to return home. 5,000 years has really changed Homeworld...I can't believe it. Why do you need to know?"

"You saw our Homeworld, Lapis. It's falling apart. Earth has all the resources we could ever want. We want to conquer it and ensure the success of our home, of all Gems." Yellow Diamond folded her arms in front of her. "How exactly were you released from the mirror?"

Lapis froze. She couldn't tell this Gem about the Crystal Gems, or about Steven Universe. "I-I don't know how I was released. One day I woke up and I was free." She tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and looked away.

"You're lying." Yellow Diamond said.

"No, I'm not, I swear! Ah!" Yellow Diamond made a motion with her hand, and the big brute of a guard slammed her face down against the table. Lapis cried.

"You will, in time tell me the truth Lapis." Yellow Diamond smiled, she was enjoying this interrogation. "Until then, you will never be free."

"Yellow Diamond, your orders?" The tall beefy Gem asked, still holding Lapis down.

"Let her go for now, Jasper. I can see in your eyes what you desire, but not today. You don't want to hurt that pretty face. You will be assigned to watch her though." Yellow Diamond redirected her words to Lapis. "Lapis, you may roam around where Jasper seems fit, but make no mistake. You are _my_ prisoner." She stood from her chair. Jasper let go of Lapis, who just bawled. Jasper moved back against the wall and crossed her arms. She watched as Yellow Diamond exited the room. Once she did Jasper relaxed, running her fingers though her fluffy mane of hair.

Lapis looked up and studied the Gem she was being watched by. Jasper was a very tall, muscular Gem. Her body was thick, and her skin was a light orange color. Red-Orange markings could be seen streaking across her face. Where her nose was supposed to be, was her gem. Jasper had wild yellow eyes. Lapis thought this Gem was the fiercest one she's ever seen. A large cape wrapped around Jasper's shoulders, making her seem larger, and even more intimidating.

Jasper made eye contact with Lapis, and sneered at her. "You should just tell Yellow Diamond what she wants to know. Why are you making this difficult for yourself? Don't you want to be free?"

Lapis scowled and looked away from Jasper. She rubbed her sore cheek bone. Talking to this brute would do her no good. She just had to convince them that she was telling the truth.

Then, she would be free.


	2. Chapter 2

JASPER

It had been three days since Yellow Diamond assigned Jasper to basically be Lapis' personal guard. Jasper could go on with her daily routine, as long as Lapis never left her sight. Yellow Diamond was convinced that Lapis was hiding something. The lie detectors in the interrogation room had been sure to alert them to that much.

So, all Jasper had done for the last three days was baby-sit this brat Gem, who stayed in her cell staring at the wall. Today was going to be different though. Today, Jasper grabbed the blue Gem by the arm and drug her outside. It was a rest day for the city Gems. Gems were casually walking along the streets, and they were even talking with each other.

"Where are you taking me, you brute?" Lapis struggled, but her physical strength came no where near as close to being as strong as Jasper's.

"I'm sick of your whining and crap. Get over it. Besides, I _really_ need a work out." They entered a plain red building. Jasper sat Lapis in a corner and looked out across her gym. She cracked her knuckles and stretched her arms out above her head.

Lapis watched her in horror. Jasper sat on a bench and faced away from Lapis. She picked up a weight and started doing reps.

After about an hour of non-stop work, Jasper broke a sweat. Lapis had nothing better to do but watch as Jasper's muscles strained and rippled under the constant pressure. Lapis had no idea that she was actually gawking at Jasper, and very obviously. Jasper put her weights down and paused, wiping the sweat from her brow. She turned her face and looked at Lapis, who had a noticeable blush on her cheeks.

"What, can't look away huh?" Jasper smirked, turning her body around to face Lapis.

"I honestly do not understand why you even bother working out. You can just change your shape if you want." Lapis replied.

Jasper laughed. The door behind her opened, and a green Gem with triangular hair entered the room. Without looking up from the screen she made with her fingers, ,this Gem spoke.

"Jasper, I have begun deployment of my robonoids this morning. Once they patch the Homeworld warp on Earth, I will be able to travel to the inactive Kindergarten, activate it, and restart Gem production on Earth as it was once before."

"No, you can't!" Lapis cried out, covering her mouth. Jasper smiled, and looked towards the green Gem.

"Peridot. Please tell me exactly what the Kindergarten does again?"

Peridot raised an eyebrow at Jasper, noticing the blue Gem for the first time. She put two fingers to her temples and sighed.

"Jasper, how many times must I tell you. Get the meat out of your head and read a book every now and then, I swear..."

Jasper put her hands on her hips and gave Peridot a look that said; 'I-dare-you-to-keep-it-up-just-do-as-I-say.'

Peridot stopped talking, and took a deep breath before speaking again.

"The Kindergarten, uses the life energy of Earth's inhabitants, ALL of it's inhabitants, and creates new Gems."

"No! There's nothing on Earth, you can't restart the Kindergarten!" Lapis stood from her chair, almost screaming at the other Gems.

"Ah, so there _is_ something on Earth that you're trying to protect." Jasper grabbed Lapis by the arm again, and started walking towards the door. "Peridot, I'm taking Lapis back to Sector 4. Tell Yellow Diamond that I'm on my way.

Peridot obeyed, leaving the building ahead of them.

Lapis tried to struggle again, and this time she managed to jab Jasper in the side. Out of reflex, Jasper let go of her and clutched her side. Lapis' elbows were very sharp.

"YOU BRAT!" Jasper pulled a Gem Destabilizer out of the wall, and threw it like a dagger towards the fleeing blue Gem. The blade pierced Lapis below her Gem, and her body poofed. Her gem fell towards the ground, and Jasper caught it before it landed.

Jasper stared at the tear shaped blue gem and sighed. Jasper rubbed her temples, irritated at Lapis for jabbing her. She slipped the gem into her pocket and walked to the wall farthest away from her. She put her palm on the wall, where there was an etching of her own gem. An interface popped up, and Jasper tapped the screen a couple times. To her left, the wall slid open to reveal a warp pad. She stepped on it and called forth the warp stream with her gem.

Seconds later, Jasper arrived back at Sector 4, where all military communications, and communications between Gem-controlled worlds took place. She entered the command room. Yellow Diamond, their leader, was sitting at a desk with her hands folded, talking to Peridot, who was standing in front of her, leaning in towards Yellow Diamond in a heated debate. Yellow Diamond looked up at Jasper.

"Jasper. Peridot tells me that Lapis Lazuli finally had something interesting to say." She moved to try and see if Lapis was standing behind her General. "Where is Lapis?"

Jasper reached in her pocket and showed the gem to her leader. Peridot gasped, and Yellow Diamond just shook her head.

"I had to use the Gem Destabilizer on her because she tried to run away." Jasper explained.

"Ah, well. Tell me about what she said."

Jasper crossed her arms. "She really didn't say much. Peridot came into my room and started talking about reactivating the Kindergarten there. Lapis became upset. She defended the planet, as if there were something there that she wanted to hide."

Yellow Diamond was silent. A smile slowly crept onto her face and she laughed.

"Something on Earth to protect? Even more reason to research it! Peridot, make sure you log everything you learn about Earth while you complete your mission. As for Lapis..." Yellow Diamond held her hand out, waiting for Jasper to hand the blue Gem over.

Jasper just about handed Lapis over, but a the last second she hesitated.

"Jasper?" Yellow Diamond raised an eyebrow at her.

"You and Peridot have a lot of work ahead of you the next few weeks. How about I keep a hold of this Gem. She'll be regenerating anyway, and when she returns, maybe I'll be able to beat some more information out of her."

Yellow Diamond studied Jasper for a moment. "Very well. But I want logs! You can send them to me via your interface in your room."

"Understood." Jasper clenched the blue gem in her fist and tuned to leave. In the hallway she stopped, staring the the gem, lost in her thoughts.

"JASPER!"

Jasper spun on her heel and gawked at the Gem that called her name. It was Peridot. Before Jasper could respond, Peridot continued.

"What do you think you're doing, going over Yellow Diamond's head like that? You're walking a very fine line..."

"What's it to you?" Jasper was not happy. "Don't you have someone else to annoy?" Once again Jasper turned to leave. Peridot grabbed Jasper's arm. That was the last straw.

She whipped Peridot around and threw her to the ground. The protective visor she wore shattered to pieces.

"Jasper, I..." Peridot held her head.

"DON'T TOUCH ME." Jasper turned and punched the wall, leaving a large indentation in it. She glanced at Peridot, but looked angrily away when she saw her tears. Jasper regained her composure and went to the warp pad, returning home.

Jasper placed Lapis' gem on a pillow in her bed. Even though Gems receive enough energy from their gems, and don't need to sleep, Jasper liked to sleep. It felt good. She tromped over to her punching bag and started hitting it.

"Stupid." Punch. "Peridot." Punch. "Grabbing me." Uppercut. She paused and looked at the moonlight coming in the window by her bed. She growled and punched the bag even harder. She punched it faster. She punched it until her knuckles bled and the bag smacked her in the face.

She fell backwards onto her bed, sending the blue gem flying into the air. It landed on her chest, sparkling in the moonlight.

"You better enjoy your rest, Lapis." Jasper kept the jewel clasped in her hand, and she closed her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

LAPIS

Lapis had retreated into her gem about a week ago. She hadn't had a choice, because Jasper had stabbed her in the back with a strange blade with some kind of new Gem technology, that forced her physical body to explode.

She could have reformed days ago, but instead took this opportunity to spy on Jasper, her physical captor. She had witnessed nothing unusual, except for a couple of things. Jasper was very hot-headed, rude, and mean. She didn't understand what transpired between Jasper and Peridot, but Lapis sensed that their relationship was complicated.

There was one day that Peridot came over, giving a report on how several of her Flask Robonoids had begun entering Earth's atmosphere. Peridot seemed distant, factual, and neutral. Jasper had just gotten done bench pressing, and was wiping her forehead off with a towel. Lapis noticed an unspoken exchange of looks, that made Peridot blush and Jasper clench her fists.

"Why won't you just talk to me." Peridot asked, quietly fidgeting with her fingers.

"You done with your report? Good. Now leave." Jasper pushed Peridot out of her room, and the doorway disappeared.

Another unusual practice of Jasper's, was sleeping. Gems don't need to sleep, but Jasper slept almost every night. On nights she didn't, she took Lapis in her pocket, and ventured around the city.

Another week passed, and Lapis knew she couldn't just stay in her gem forever. Well, she could, but she worried about how vulnerable she was. What if Jasper just decided to smash her gem?

"I'm so sick of it!"

Lapis watched Jasper with surprise. Jasper crumpled up gem flowers, and they disappeared into dust. She almost punched the wall again, but held her fist inches from it. She took a deep breath and picked Lapis' gem up.

"What is she doing now?" Lapis wondered aloud, only she could hear her own voice.

Jasper stuffed Lapis in her pocket. Lapis couldn't see anything, but knew that Jasper was on the move. She heard the warp pad, Jasper was teleporting somewhere.

"Jasper. Haven't seen you in a while! We're in for a show tonight." Lapis didn't recognize the Gem's voice.

"Shut up." Jasper responded.

"The rules, if you remember, are very simple. No shape-shifting. No weapons, only fists. No kicking. No gem shots. Now, what are you going to ante up?" the unknown voice asked.

"This." Jasper pulled Lapis' gem out and handed it to the other.

"She wouldn't!" Lapis screamed. No one heard her.

"Ah, perfect. Good luck to you Jasper."

Lapis watched in horror as she was carried away from the Gem General. She took in her surroundings, trying to figure out what kind of place Jasper had brought her to. Hundreds of Gems were gathered here, and directly in the middle of the crowd was a pit, with a net over it, made of the Gem Destablizer Energy. She was anted up for a fighting ring!

"I can't believe her!" Lapis spoke to herself while watching the pit carefully from her gem. "Well, actually I can. She seems the type."

"Alright folks, get ready. We have a veteran fighter back in the ring tonight. Please give it up for... JASPER!" the announcer's voice rang out across the room.

Jasper coolly walked into the pit. Her opponent was larger than her ,and more muscular. The black gem stared down at her as if she were just a small bug on the map.

"Veteran huh? Well I'm the reigning champ, and I can't wait to kick your ass and win your ante. Name's Onyx."

"I don't care," Jasper pounded her fist into her open palm, and grinned wickedly, "about your name. When I'm done with you, you'll be cursing mine!"

Lapis watched as Jasper slammed her fist into Onyx's face, knocking her back into the wall. Lapis cringed when Onyx punched Jasper straight in the gut, causing her to fall to her knees and clutch her stomach.

"I don't understand. It shouldn't be that painful..." Lapis could only watch.

Jasper uppercutted Onyx in the jaw, and Lapis thought that Jasper looked wild and fierce. Jasper bent over to catch her breath, and didn't see what happened next. Onyx took both hands and slammed them down on the top of her head, sending her face first into the ground.

"Oh! Jasper did not see that coming!" The announcer said.

Lapis covered her mouth with a hand. She could barely look on as Jasper picked herself up, wiping blood from her bottom lip. She fell to one knee and spit to the side.

"What are you fighting for, Jasper? You're only making a fool of yourself now." Onyx loomed over Jasper, and picked her up by the collar. Onyx slowly held her higher until she was inches from the Gem Destabilizer Net.

"JASPER!" Lapis cried out, forgetting that her cries were inaudible.

Jasper laughed, and flung her elbow into Onyx's jaw, causing Onyx to drop her. She flipped around and knocked Onyx up into the net with her fists.

"Oh my... In a stunning turn of events, Jasper wins the match and the ante! Now for the next..."

Lapis was relieved. She didn't want to become someone else's possession again, and she'd rather deal with this brute than another.

The announcer Gem handed Lapis and Onyx's ante over to Jasper. She grinned awkwardly and kept Lapis' gem in her hand the whole way home.

Lapis was going to wait for Jasper to go to bed before reviving from her gem. Jasper placed Lapis on her table and sat in a chair in front of it. Lapis was not looking at the face of the same Gem she had been before. Jasper was staring at the blue gem, and she ran her finger on its curved edge.

"I'm... sorry Lapis." Jasper's voice wavered a little. "I know you can't hear me, but..." Jasper picked the stone up and held it to her chest. "I almost lost you today, in an ante for a stupid fight. I bottle up so much rage, so much hate... I don't know how else to deal with these stupid feelings other than to punch things." Jasper bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut.

Lapis blushed, even though she could not be seen. She looked at this Gem's face, but shadows lay across, covering her eyes. She didn't understand why Jasper was acting so different.

"Well." Jasper looked up, the light glistened off of a single tear that she had shed. Her face was pretty beat up, her lip cracked, and her eye was puffy and turning blue. The tear slid down her cheek and landed on Lapis' gem.

Lapis watched as Jasper's features became cold again. She went into her bed and soon was completely silent.

Lapis' gem glowed, and her body formed. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and tiptoed towards the sleeping Gem. The moons shone brightly across Jasper, who looked so peaceful when she was laying there.

Her face was softened, her lips were parted a little, and her breathing was quiet like a gentle breeze. Her cheek still glistened where her tear had fallen.

Without hesitating, Lapis wiped Jasper's cheek with her bent finger. A tear rolled down into the middle of her palm, and using her hydrokinesis, she hardened it into a little crystal.

Lapis ran her fingers down through Jasper's hair, amazed at how soft it was. Lapis smiled and sat in the corner, where her chair was. For the first time ever, she closed her eyes and embraced sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

JASPER

Jasper wasn't sleeping when Lapis Lazuli had returned from the safety of her gem. She was about to sit up, when she felt Lapis wipe at her cheek with her finger. Jasper froze. What in the world did this weak little Gem think that she was doing? She opened her eyes a little, to see Lapis as she smiled, and touched her hair.

Jasper waited for an hour before she sat up and saw Lapis sitting quietly in her corner, eyes closed with a small smile on her face. Jasper knelt in front of Lapis and waved her hand in front of her face, gaining no reaction from her.

"She's...sleeping...?" Jasper whispered to herself. She looked down at Lapis' hands and saw the small crystallized tear resting there. Jasper clenched her fist. She had been weak, and Lapis had seen it. What would Yellow Diamond think of her slip up?

She stood, going over to her interface. She pressed her log record button.

"This is Jasper, Log 001. Lapis has finally returned to her physical form." Jasper noticed that her face was still beat up from the fighting ring. "Uh. Since you'll know if I'm lying anyway, I guess I'll just tell you. I went to the fighting ring in Sector 1, to let off some steam. End log." Jasper closed the interface and sighed. Today had been a long day for her. She fell into bed, and closed her eyes.

xxx

"Jasper..." Lapis lightly touched Jasper's arm. Jasper struck out and grabbed Lapis' arm tightly. "Ouch!"

"DO. NOT. TOUCH. ME." Jasper threw Lapis on the ground and stood up, stretching. Lapis picked herself up and rubbed her sore arm. "What do you want, brat?"

"P-Peridot told me to tell you that you are needed at Head Quarters as soon as possible."

"What!? Why would she tell you? You're nothing but a prisoner." Jasper knitted her eyebrows. "Come. It doesn't matter." Jasper reached for Lapis' arm, but Lapis moved from her reach.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking." Lapis stood by the wall where the warp pad was.

"Fine." Jasper opened the door and they warped to Sector 4. Once in Yellow Diamond's room, the door was shut behind them.

Peridot sat in her usual spot, and Jasper took her place next to her. Lapis sat in the corner on the floor, staring off into space.

"Peridot, what's going on?"

"Jasper, you finally joined the party. I'll just get straight to the point. I'm sending you three to Earth to check the cluster. Peridot's reports have been interesting, to say the least. Peridot please." Yellow Diamond motioned for Peridot to speak.

"Yes. Well. Originally I had my flask robonoids repair the Homeworld warp. I went to Earth, and saw that all the Galaxy Warps there were in bad shape. I was about to warp to the Kindergarten, when I noticed this odd symbol on the Homeworld warp." Peridot paused her story to show Jasper an oddly shaped sticker. "I thought maybe the sight had been compromised, so I destroyed my robonoids and fled. I waited 3 days before attempting to warp back to Earth, but I couldn't. The only way I wouldn't have been able to, was because it must have been destroyed again."

"Destroyed? By what? I thought all Gems on Earth were destroyed." Jasper looked at Lapis, who quickly looked away. Jasper growled and turned back towards Peridot.

"I sent several Plug Robonoids after that, until one finally reached the Kindergarten control room. There my efforts to start the Kindergarten were foiled by... three Gems that called themselves the 'Crystal Gems.'"

Jasper slammed her fist on the desk, startling Lapis, who had been listening so intently to the Crystal part of the conversation.

"The CRYSTAL GEMS? I should have known." Jasper hissed.

"Yellow Diamond, I need a Body Guard if I'm going to Earth, those Gems are very dangerous! And they keep destroying my things!"

"Peridot, Quiet. I already told you that I would send Jasper with you. I'm sure she can handle a few defective Gems. You'll be leaving tomorrow. You'll be... Hey! Hey!" Yellow Diamond jumped towards the door, but was too late. Lapis had already escaped.

"I got it!" Jasper tore after her, breaking the furniture on her way out of the door. Lapis turned into the communication room and blockaded the door. She ran to a microphone and entered frequencies, trying to get a message to Steven.

"LAPIS!" Jasper pounded on the door. "Don't! If you do this, I'll..."

"Steven!" Jasper could hear Lapis flipping through different frequencies.

"I hope you're able to hear this, there's a Gem looking for you, she even knew your name. I don't know how! I didn't tell her I swear!"

"You little brat!" Jasper summoned her Crash Helmet, and started pounding her head against the door. The door started to crack against the pressure.

"Steven, Homeworld is not the way it used to be. Everything here is so advanced! I can't even understand it. There's no way anything on Earth can stand up to it. Please, don't put up a fight, it'll only lead to devastation."

Just then, Jasper broke through the door, her eyes burning with rage. Lapis sank to the floor, hoping that Steven got her message.

"Who did you contact Lapis!? Was it the Crystal Gems?" Jasper tried to remain semi calm, but her voice was thick with anger, and it was making her voice crack.

Lapis remained silent. She couldn't even look at Jasper, which only made the orange Gem angrier. Jasper walked around the desk and picked the blue Gem up by her wrist, lifting her into the air.

"There's only one thing I can do..."

"Jasper!" Yellow Diamond kicked the door shards to the side and stood next to the Gem General. Jasper let Lapis on the ground, but held her wrist tightly. Yellow Diamond backhanded Jasper with her brass knuckles. "It was YOUR job to keep the Gem in line!" Yellow Diamond raised her hand again and looked at Lapis. "It'll be a shame to wreck such a pretty face."

Jasper grabbed Yellow Diamonds wrist and met her angry gaze. Without a moments hesitation she slugged Jasper again. And again. And again.

Lapis looked on with complete shock.

"Stop!" Lapis cried, reaching out to Jasper. "It's my fault! Punish me!" Yellow Diamond didn't stop. "Please!"

"Peridot!" Yellow Diamond called, and Peridot entered, a look of disgust on her face. "Take this traitor back to Jasper's room."

"No!" Lapis lunged towards Jasper, but Peridot caught her. Jasper hardly saw Lapis' teary eyes, or her trying her hardest to reach her, before she fell to the floor and blacked out.


	5. Chapter 5

LAPIS

Lapis was freaking out. She was locked in Jasper's room, and had no idea whether or not she was even okay. She pounded on the walls, hoping a door would open so she could warp back to Sector 4. Hours passed, and Lapis was ready to rip her hair out.

Finally the front door opened and Jasper came in. Lapis ran towards the orange Gem, and stopped when she was only an inch away. Jasper looked at Lapis with a blank look in her eyes, like she didn't comprehend her surroundings.

"Jasper, are you... okay?" She inquired.

Jasper took a step, and collapsed on the ground. Lapis shrieked, kneeling on the floor next to her. Jasper's back glistened with fresh blood, her clothes were shredded. Seven deep cuts crossed her back, and Lapis cried when she saw gem shards of yellow embedded into her flesh.

"No." Lapis retrieved a pillow from Jasper's bed and put Jasper's head on it gently. She then sat on the floor, analyzing Jasper's back. Her wounds should have healed, but the gem shards were like poison, preventing it from healing. Lapis quickly braided Jasper's hair to keep it out of the wounds. She took a deep breath and slowly pulled a shard out. Her finger grazed against Jasper's skin, and she mentally noted that it was hot to the touch.

There was one shard left, and when Lapis started to pull it out, Jasper snapped awake, striking her arm at Lapis, sending her flying backwards.

Jasper turned her head and saw that the one she hit was Lapis. She also saw the yellow gem shards on the floor, covered with blood. Lapis composed herself and got right back up. Before Jasper could oppose, Lapis pulled out the shard, which was very long, and very sharp. It sliced Lapis' finger open.

"Tch... Ow..." Lapis watched a drop of blood ooze out of her finger.

Jasper sat up. She held out her hand to Lapis. "Let me see." she said.

Lapis held out her finger and Jasper took it, barely taking the time to look at it before she brought it to her lips and sucked on it. Lapis blushed, looking away from Jasper.

Jasper released Lapis' hand, and sat cross-legged, staring at the floor. She had a look of concerned confusion on her face. Lapis swore that she even blushed.

"Jasper, thank you for what you did." Lapis said quietly.

"Don't look into it. It was nothing."

"No, it wasn't nothing. If you wouldn't have... I would have been..."

"Sh..." Jasper cupped Lapis' cheek in her hand and wiped her tears away with her thumb. Lapis smiled. She's never seen this side of her before. It was probably the blood loss making her act funny. She was starting to have feelings for this brute of a Gem, she felt terrible for what Yellow Diamond had done to her. There was no way she could mention that though.

Jasper smiled, looking happy and relaxed for only a moment. After that moment, someone barged into Jasper's room, causing her face to grow cold and tough once more. Lapis noticed a fire burning deep within her. She turned, and saw that the intruder was Peridot.

"What have you done?" Peridot's voice was laced with disgust. "You grabbed our Commander in Chief, are you crazy? You're lucky that all she gave you were a few cuts and bruises. She thought about destroying your gem." Peridot raised an eyebrow at Jasper.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Peridot, that what I do is none of your business. I don't know why you keep trying to act like it is." Jasper stood, and pulled Lapis up with her.

Lapis watched Peridot's face wearily. She had this feeling that Peridot really cared for Jasper in some way. Peridot glared at Lapis, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"The ship is ready to depart. We should be on our way. It will take a bit to get there." Peridot turned on her heel, and much to Lapis' surprise, Jasper stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"Peri..."

Peridot wrenched her arm away and exited Jasper's room. Jasper put a hand on her hip, and ran the other through her hair, pulling the braid out.

"Let's go Lapis." Jasper stood on the warp pad, and shape shifted an untorn outfit on. Lapis joined Jasper on the warp, and they traveled to the ship hangar.

Lapis couldn't tell anyone about how scared she was. No matter what, she had to protect her only friend, Steven Universe.

Lapis followed Jasper, so as not to cause more trouble for the orange Gem. She figured that if she were to behave, maybe they would let her be free.

She was given her own room on the ship, and was given free roam. They all probably figured that she wouldn't dare try to flee, for her own good.

That night, Lapis couldn't help but hope that Steven and the Crystal Gems received her warning, and that they would cooperate for everyone's sake. She knew that Jasper would follow orders now, especially after defying Yellow Diamond once for her sake.

She entered her room, and noticed something glowing on her table. She picked up a piece of silky fabric, that shimmered when the light hit it. Actual fabric was very rare for a Gem to own. Lapis tied the sparkly blue ribbon around her waist, and smiled to herself.

"I see you found it."

Lapis twirled around, her hands being enveloped by Jasper's large hands. Jasper pulled Lapis to her, then swung her out, twirling her gently. Lapis laughed, putting her arms in the air, then running them down the front of her body.

Jasper moved fluidly, to an unheard beat, synchronizing perfectly with Lapis. She picked Lapis up, spinning playfully around in a circle. Lapis and Jasper's Gems started to glow. Jasper noticed, and put Lapis down, and stopped dancing, causing the glow to stop.

Lapis blushed, fingering the shimmery fabric nervously. Jasper's yellow eyes were glowing, and they looked almost sinister in the dim light. Yet, they weren't looking at Lapis.

Lapis followed Jasper's gaze, and understood what broke her concentration. They had entered Earth's orbit. Lapis' heart dropped. She didn't realize she would have arrived so fast.

"Hey." Lapis waved her hand in front of Jasper's eyes, breaking her out of her trance. Jasper blinked, and looked down at Lapis.

"Well Lapis, I hope you like the ribbon." Jasper said quietly.

"I do. It's beautiful. But where did you get it?"

"I won it. At the fighting ring."

"Thank you, Jasper."

 _ **BEEP!**_

Peridot's face appeared in a hologram screen directly in front of Jasper. She had an extremely annoyed look on her face.

"Jasper, we will be landing shortly. Please, join me in the cockpit."

Lapis could hardly breathe.


	6. Chapter 6

**Rather than skipping over this whole scene, I wrote it out and added it to my story. This chapter is extremely close to the actual events of the Episode 'The Return', but it's an important event that coincides with my story. Just to warn you.**

JASPER

Jasper, Peridot and Lapis were in a ball that rolled out of the palm of Peridot's hand-shaped ship. It rolled to the tip of the index finger and opened, revealing the three Gems that Peridot had reported to Yellow Diamond.

"That's them, all right. They're the ones who keep breaking my machines!" Peridot said.

"This is it?" Jasper scoffed.

"Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!" Peridot cried.

Jasper sighed, and stepped forward. "It looks like another waste of my time... Hey, get over here!" She dragged Lapis out from behind her. Lapis pulled her arm from Jasper's grip. She gasped when she saw Steven and the Crystal Gems.

"Lapis!" Steven called to her.

"This is their base?" Jasper asked Lapis.

"Yes..." Lapis looked towards the ground.

The tall Gem named Garnet stepped forward. "You need to leave immediately!" She demanded.

"Yeah, step off!" the Gem called Amethyst piped up.

Pearl, the third Gem pointed towards Jasper with her weapon. "This is not a Gem controlled planet!"

Jasper, Peridot, and a reluctant Lapis jumped off the ship and landed on the beach. Jasper fixed her gaze on the temple of Rose Quartz, the Gem that used to rule here.

"And neither of you saw Rose Quartz? Oh, what a shame. I'd hoped to meet her. I was looking forward to beating her into the ground!"

"Euegh..." Steven took a step back. Jasper hadn't noticed him yet.

"But this is all that's left of her army? Some lost, defective Pearl, a puny overcooked runt, and _this_ shameless display?" Jasper growled, eyeing Garnet. Her eyes shifted downwards, seeing Steven for the first time. "What, is that?"

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl called forth their weapons, stepping in front of Steven.

"It calls itself 'the Steven.'" Peridot replied in disgust.

Lapis moved forward a little, catching Jasper's attention.

"He's just a human! He isn't a threat at all! He's not one of them!"

"I know what a human is." Jasper sighed again. "You don't need me for this. Just blast them with the ship." She turned her back to the Crystal Gems. Lapis turned with her. She couldn't bear to watch.

"Ugh... Fine."

The ship lifted up, the pointer finger taking aim at the other group. Peridot opened her finger monitor and drew a wide circle, and tapped the middle of the circle. The finger started to charge power.

"Steven! Get out of here!" Garnet screamed.

"No!" he yelled back.

"I won't let you risk your life!"

"But this is my home! And you're all my family!"

Listening to their banter made Jasper feel sick. Behind her, Steven's Gemstone began to glow.

"Firing." Peridot tapped her screen again. A beam of energy fired out of the ship.

"I'm-I'm a Crystal Gem too!" Steven jumped in front of his friends. Rose's shield formed, stopping the blast. Jasper turned around, completely shocked.

"That shield! That symbol!" Anger seethed out of Jasper's voice. She watched the shield fade, and Steven collapse to the sand.

"You! You have the power of Rose Quartz!" She clenched her fist. Lapis could only watch in fear.

"Now do you believe I needed an escort!?" Peridot exclaimed.

"Fire a barrage! Widespread!" Jasper commanded.

Peridot swiped a finger right across her monitor. Garnet pushed Steven out of the way. The ship cut a line across the beach, causing an explosion, with Pearl and Amethyst getting caught in the blast. When the smoke cleared, Jasper saw Steven, who was unscathed.

"Rose," Jasper spoke to Steven, "Why do you look like that? Why are you so weak?"

"Don't hurt him!" Lapis grabbed Jasper's arm. Jasper glared at her.

"You knew about this!?"

"It wasn't relevant to the mission! _Please..._ " Lapis' eyes started to tear up.

"Forget the mission!" Jasper smacked Lapis' hand away. "I can't believe you..." She muttered so only Lapis could hear.

"What!?" Peridot shouted.

"Yellow Diamond needs to see this... thing." Jasper responded.

"Uh..." Steven groaned.

Garnet jumped at Jasper.

"Good." Jasper summoned her weapon and met Garnet head on in a literal sense. Their impact created a powerful draft that sent both Garnet and Steven flying backwards. Garnet quickly recovered from the knock back, and ran towards Jasper again.

"Steven, run!"

"Priming Gem Destabilizer." Jasper pulled a blade out, and dashed towards Garnet. She shoved the electrified blade into Garnet. She fell backwards, her body slowly deteriorating. Her physical body vanished, revealing Steven sitting in the sand, shaking in fear. Garnet's gemstones landed in the sand, one red ad one blue. Jasper glared at the small boy.

"I was there, you know. At the first war for this garbage planet. I fought against your armies. I respected your tactics, but this?" She lifted Steven up by his shirt. "This is sick!"

Pearl and Amethyst charged at Jasper.

"Unhand him!" Pearl screamed.

"I don't get what you're planning, Rose. But look! Your base is taken. Your armies are ruined! You have failed." Jasper destabilized Pearl and Amethyst. Her Crash Helmet disappeared, and she headbutted Steven in the eye, knocking him out.

Jasper picked the four gemstones up, and stuffed them in her pocket. She stomped past Lapis, pausing for a moment at the now opened door of the ship.

"Peridot. Lock Lapis in the farthest eastern cell. Make sure you turn on the Destabilizing field. She will be delivered back to Yellow Diamond, along with the other traitors."

"Jasper, I..." Lapis reached towards the orange Gem. Jasper turned her face just enough for Lapis to see her eyes.

"Understood." Peridot pushed Lapis into the sand with her boot, a huge, maniac grin on her face.

Jasper entered the ship, not looking back.


	7. Chapter 7

**This Chapter uses actual scenes from the episode 'Jailbreak', as it is an important event to my story. Rather than skipping it or just saying "The events of Jailbreak happened" blah blah blah, I wrote it out and added it to my Chapter. Just so you know.**

LAPIS

Anger. Hurt. Pain. Betrayal. Those were the emotions Lapis had a glimpse of before Jasper left her to Peridot.

Lapis was all alone in her cell. A yellow Destabilizer field prevented her from even considering escape. Many thoughts raced through her mind, but they all led back to a singular, powerful feeling. That was her feeling of confusion.

She pulled the crystallized tear from her top, and rolled it around in the palm of her hand. It was a memory to her, one that she chose to keep close to her heart. It was the only time Jasper showed any vulnerable side to her. The only time she really felt a connection to the brute of a Gem.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Lapis clenched the tear in her fist, and looked out her cell to see who was coming down the hallway. It was Peridot. For a smaller Gem, her footfalls fell heavy on the floor. Lapis watched as Peridot approached her cell, and leaned against the wall.

"I don't know what she saw in you." Peridot remarked, loading up her finger monitor.

"Excuse me?" Lapis said, unsure what Peridot was getting at.

"Jasper. What is it about you, that she likes so much? You're just an outdated brat who got herself trapped in a mirror for 5,000 years." Peridot drew several lines on her monitor.

"I don't know why you're asking me something like that. I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, don't act like you don't know!" A tendril made from the ship wrapped around Lapis' waist, hoisting her in the air and slamming her back into the ground.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Lapis asked, staring wide-eyed at Peridot.

"Because before you came, _I_ was the one who Jasper talked to. I was the one who knew all of her secrets, and who she cared about. It all changed when you arrived, and suddenly that was all she cared about."

"Well Peridot, seems that you don't have to even worry about that! She's made it pretty obvious that she _doesn't_ care about anyone but herself!" Lapis pulled out of the tendril's grasp, and retreated to the farthest corner of her cell.

"Right..." Peridot trotted off angrily down the hallway, leaving Lapis alone to brood.

JASPER

Jasper just returned from putting the prisoners into their own cells, making sure to put one of Garnet's gems on the Southern side of the ship, and the other on the Northern side.

She walked into the cockpit and took off her cape. She lounged in a comfy chair, and closed her eyes, trying to sort out her thoughts. Her thoughts betrayed her, and images of Lapis just flooded her mind. She scruffed up her hair and clenched her teeth. The thought of showing weakness over and over made her sick to her stomach.

Peridot came into the cockpit, staring at her finger monitor. She didn't notice the disheveled Gem lounging in the corner. Jasper stuck her foot out, causing the green Gem to trip and fall on her face.

"Jasper! Honestly. Go break something else, just try not to break my face!" Peridot picked herself up and crossed her arms.

"Where were you just now?" Jasper inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Running a quick maintenance check. Speaking of which," Peridot sat in the pilot seat and connected to the mainframe of the ship. She set the ship to fly out and orbit the Earth.

"Hm." Jasper hopped up and entered a side door, that led to a small room connected with several monitors. She checked several of them. All the Crystal Gems were retreated into their gems, and the thing called Steven was passed out on the ground. Lapis though, she was sitting in the corner of her cell with her knees to her chest, and her head down.

"You did this to yourself you know... Why did you lie to me?"

Something happened on a different screen. One of Garnet's gems had recovered. A small, blue gem, who looked out her cell, saw no one, and started to sing. Loudly. Then, one by one, the other gems popped back into existence. Steven also woke up. He even started playing with the force field, which didn't seem to affect him.

LAPIS

"Lapis!"

Lapis turned around and saw Steven standing outside her cell. He was with Ruby, a small red Gem. Ruby started to pace fervently back and forth.

"Lapis, I can get you out." Steven started to reach towards the Gem Destabilizer barrier.

"Stop!" Lapis yelled, causing Steven to stop moving.

"It's okay, I can-"

"No! I don't want your help. Things are bad enough as it is. I've already made too much trouble. Once we get back to Homeworld, they're going to decide what to do with us."

"Err!" Ruby yelled. "I don't have time for this!" She dashed away down a different hallway.

"Wait!" Steven called after her.

"Steven, whatever you're doing just stop. If we do everything they say, they might go easy on us." Lapis tried to sound convincing, she didn't want to see Steven get hurt. At this rate, she didn't know what Jasper would do to turn over the half Gem to Yellow Diamond.

"But they're... mean! They hurt my friends, they hurt my face!" Steven fingered the bruise on his right eye. "They've got you here in prison!"

"That's why we can't fight them."

"That's why we HAVE to fight them!"

Lapis sighed, and turned away from Steven.

"I'll come back for you."

Lapis could hear Steven's footsteps as he got farther and farther away.

"Steven you don't understand anything. I can't fight... because I..." Lapis looked at her hands. Did she really? "I love her..." The tear Lapis was holding started to glow. It projected a screen, showing Lapis video feed of Jasper, who was currently in a standoff with the fusion Gem, Garnet.

"Oh great, you're both out? And you're fused again? Why? Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Gems stronger. Quit embarrassing yourselves!" Jasper growled at Garnet.

"Is that why you stopped our fusion before? Because you think its a sign of weakness?" Lapis bit her lip, and continued to watch.

"I've seen what you really are." Jasper taunted.

Garnet chuckled. "No you haven't."

With that, Garnet charged at Jasper and the two begin to fight. Garnet dodged several of Jasper's attacks, but Jasper was able to grab Garnet's foot and throw her across the room.

Garnet picked herself up and charged back at Jasper. She kicked the Gem Destablizer out of her hand, grabbed it, and broke it in half. Jasper summoned her Crash Helmet and ran at Garnet.

Lapis was kneeling now, chewing on her nails while watching the fight.

Jasper did a spin dive at Garnet, causing the both of them to fall through the ground and into the ships engine room. Garnet stood up, obviously buffeted by Jasper's attack.

Lapis watched as Garnet picked herself up yet again. She saw an opening in Jasper's attack, caught her, and threw her into the main power source.

"No!" Lapis shrieked as she watched the Gem she thought she loved being zapped by an enormous amount of energy.

The tear shattered. Lapis threw herself on the ground and wailed. The engine room exploded, and Lapis felt the ship starting to fall.

CRASH.

Lapis shifted a large chunk of rubble from on top of her. She called her wings to try and fly away. Something grabbed her by the foot, and held her by the arm, inches from the ground.

"Come here, brat! Ahh, don't fly off so soon."

 _That voice..._ Lapis opened her eyes, and was staring at Jasper, who had a crazed look on her face.

"Lapis!" Steven tried to run to her, but Pearl and Amethyst stopped him.

"Lapis, listen." Jasper grabbed her chin and forced her to look at her, "Fuse with me!" Jasper's eyes were wild, like she was acting in extreme desperation.

"What?" Lapis was shocked. Didn't she hear Jasper just say that fusion was weak? There was no doubt in her mind, Jasper _was_ desperate.

"How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock?" Jasper dropped Lapis, who fell to her hands and knees. She looked up to see the horrified look on Steven's face.

So many thoughts raced through her mind in those split seconds that followed. Was she really in love with Jasper? Or was it all just a crazy idea that just popped into her mind? Would Jasper even love her back? So many questions were filling her mind, and it was a very inappropriate time.

"These Gems, they're traitors to their Homeworld. They kept you prisoner. They used you. This is your chance to take revenge!" Jasper cooed, trying to persuade Lapis.

She came to a conclusion at that moment. It was despicable how Jasper was trying to manipulate her into hurting her friend, but that didn't change how she had felt about her. But, she loved Steven too.

"Come on, just say yes." Jasper held her hand out towards Lapis.

"Lapis, don't do it!" Steven begged.

For a few more seconds, Lapis thought very carefully. Then she turned towards Jasper and offered her hand.

"Nooo!" Steven cried out.

Jasper and Lapis danced, just like they did back on the ship. Jasper twirled Lapis and held her close, not letting her fall. Their gems glowed.

They turned into an amorphous white blob, growing very large. Malachite, the fusion of the two appeared out of the blob of energy.

The Crystal Gems cried out in terror.

Malachite cackled, raising her arm, summoning an arm made of water from the ocean. The arm suddenly grabbed her arm, becoming a shackle.

"Huh?" Malachite was confused.

Another arm emerged from the ocean and took hold of Malachite's other arm, also becoming a shackle.

"What!"

Water chains appeared and wrapped around Malachite's torso.

"Ugh!" She groaned, trying to pull away from the chains. She couldn't break free. The water started to drag her into the ocean.

"What are you doing?" Malachite said to herself in Jasper's voice.

"I'm done being everyone's prisoner. Now you're _my_ prisoner!" Lapis' voice responded as two more water arms grabbed Malachite's back legs. "And I'm never letting you go!" It hurt Lapis terribly to do this. She felt everything Jasper felt, knew everything that Jasper knew, and right now, she could feel Jasper's heart breaking.

"Ugh! Agh! Ugh Aaah!" Jasper cried as the arms pulled Malachite into the water, leaving only her face visible. Malachite tried to split, causing her face to deform, then reform.

"Lapis!" Steven cried out in terror.

"Let's stay on this miserable planet! Together!" Lapis cried, pulling Malachite into the depths of the ocean.


	8. Chapter 8

JASPER

Jasper couldn't fight against Lapis' willpower while they were fused. It was as if fusing benefited Lapis more than it did Jasper.

The moment they had fused, every feeling ,thought, and unspoken word that Lapis felt, Jasper now felt. The feeling of freedom when Lapis first left for Homeworld, the feeling of terror when Yellow Diamond captured her. Jasper relived exactly how Lapis felt as she started to hate her, and how that hate slowly became an infatuation. Now it was just confusion.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Jasper hissed. She had planned to defeat the Crystal Gems and show Yellow Diamond that Lapis wasn't a traitor after all. In exchange for Rose Quartz, she had hoped Yellow Diamond would have let Lapis be free.

"I couldn't let you destroy my only friend. I still don't believe in this place, but I believe in Steven. He was the only one who tried to communicate with me when I was trapped in that mirror. He freed me." Lapis grunted, still pulling their huge fused body along with the currents of the ocean.

Jasper was quiet after that, choosing instead to look at her surroundings. Many different sizes, shapes, and colors of fish swam past them, reminding Jasper of Homeworld and its stuffy routine. She thought of Peridot, who either escaped, or perished when the ship crashed. Thinking about Peridot was a dangerous thing to do, because it opened up memories from Jasper's past, that she didn't want to share with Lapis. Lapis must have gotten wind of it, because their fused form started to waver. The water shackles gripped their body tighter, and pulled them towards the surface at high speeds.

"L-Lapis! Agh!" Malachite was thrown high into the sky, and a loud 'Poof!' was heard, separating the two Gems and tossing them on the beach of a deserted island.

"Ugh.." Jasper groaned, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. She leaned back, and shook the sand out of her massive mane of hair. She looked around her, not seeing Lapis anywhere. "If I could just..." She attempted to stand, but her physical body was hurt. She felt weak, and her knees buckled under her weight, sending her back into the sand. "I'm so pathetic." she mumbled, spitting out clumps of sand.

She turned over on her back, and gazed at the baby blue sky. The air tasted crisp and salty, and several seagulls soared above her, chirping noisily. She reached towards the sky, noticing chains and shackles were still around her wrists. She slammed her fist on the ground, and shut her eyes tightly.

Jasper heard some dragging sounds in the sand, and opened her eyes to see Lapis dragging a large canvas sheet towards her. She caught her gaze, and Lapis scowled, leaving the beach again. She drug back an odd shaped tent skeleton made of tree parts tied together. She placed it so it hovered over Jasper, and then threw the canvas over it, blocking Jasper's view of the sky.

Jasper remained quiet, not wanting to piss Lapis off and have her thrown back into the ocean.

Lapis crawled into the tent and sat by Jasper's feet, looking out the entrance at the ocean. The sun was setting, and the fiery colors of the sky were absolutely stunning.

"Jasper." Lapis spoke softly.

"Huh." Jasper grunted.

"When we were fused as Malachite, I saw your memories of Peridot flash through my mind."

"Oh yeah?"

"Tell me. Tell me why, when you guys were such good companions, why did you break her heart?"

Jasper sat up and glared at Lapis. She clenched her fists, but decided to take a deep breath, and relax. Something about those azure blue eyes calmed her, and she didn't really want to hurt Lapis. The conversation was unavoidable, given the circumstances they were in. Anyway, anger was giving her a massive headache.

"Peridot and I were not a good experience, Lapis. And I didn't break her heart." Jasper felt the pain of those memories building up in her chest, making her eyes water. She hadn't cried in so many years, that the thought of crying was making her nauseous. Here she was again, showing such weakness to this Gem. "She broke mine." Several tears streaked down her cheeks. Lapis couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at the large Gem.

"But the memories..."

"Peridot became Yellow Diamond's main technician several years ago. She was sent out among the different planets to do maintenance on Gem technology ranging from warp pads, vehicles, Gem weapons, you name it, and she could fix it. I was often selected as Peridot's escort, and accompanied her on those missions. We became good friends. One day, on a distant Gem planet, we shared our first dance. We almost fused, but at the last second she stopped, and ran off. I was left alone, confused, hurt, and pissed off at myself for letting myself show that weak of an emotion. A Gem that supposedly loved being in my company, and told me she loved me, had just ran off during an extremely intimate Gem tradition." Jasper wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands. She wasn't going to sit there and cry in front of Lapis.

"Jasper you needn't continue I-"

"I went to find her Lapis. And when I did, it was like my heart exploded in my chest. She was in the arms of a pretty red Gem I had never seen before. Apparently they were sneaking off together on every mission, and instead of just telling me she wasn't interested, she formed lie upon lie to use me, because I was so willing to sacrifice myself to protect her. I became so angry that I grabbed the red Gem and smashed her gem to pieces. Peridot's screaming still haunts me, but how could she do that to me?"

Lapis put her hand on Jasper's, and showed her that she was listening. At her touch, Jasper tensed, and pulled her hand away quickly.

"To this day, I feel like Peridot's only goal in life is to torture me. She's been sending me those stupid gem flowers, gifts, trying to talk to me, and every time I see her face, I'm reminded of why I hate people so fervently."

Lapis was crying silently, and Jasper gave her an odd look.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion."

"Whatever. It was a long time ago and those feelings don't matter anymore."

"Have you ever talked to Peridot since then? I mean, she seems like she really does care about you.."

"No. I don't want to talk to her, do you understand?" Jasper crawled out of the tent, and walked down to the shore. There she sat and watched the moon as it rose slowly into the sky. She could see the twinkling stars that were Homeworld, but she was starting to think that maybe she didn't miss it so much.

Lapis sat next to Jasper and released the shackles and chains that bound her. She looked at Lapis and rubbed her wrists. She sure was a persistent one, couldn't take a hint either. Jasper just wanted to be alone. She leaned back and watched the stars.

"You know, before Steven fixed my Gem, I stole this entire ocean trying to reach Homeworld. But it wasn't nearly enough to reach it. Now that I've been there, I never want to go back. I'm a prisoner no matter where I go, and I'm so sick of it." Lapis said.

Jasper thought about a tower of water and laughed.

"That's ridiculous." she chuckled.

"I know it sounds impossible but I-"

POOF.

Jasper saw Lapis' physical body explode. A large Plug Robonoid had stabbed her in the back, and picked up her gem. It shot out a hologram, that took on the shape and form of Yellow Diamond.

"Jasper. Have you checked on the cluster?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"No, there was an unexpected... challenge. Rose Quartz is here on this planet." Jasper responded quickly.

"Ah, Rose, I see... Jasper I need you to reunite with Peridot. Also, I'm ordering the destruction of Lapis Lazuli."

Jasper inhaled her spit and choked on it.


	9. Chapter 9

LAPIS

Lapis reformed, and she was in the clutches of a Plug Robonoid, one of Peridot's inventions. She summoned a hand of water and was about to throw it down on the robonoid, but it zapped her with electricity and dropped her on the beach. The robonoid crushed her, walking on her like she was a road. Jasper punched the robot, and sent it flying into the ocean.

Three more large robots came crashing into the Earth, and one of them grabbed Lapis and started to run off with her.

"Jasper, help me!" she screamed.

JASPER

Jasper was torn between her sworn duty to Yellow Diamond, and saving the life of someone she shared an experience with. Lapis had shown more than once that she was interested in being Jasper's companion, and she couldn't let her be destroyed.

Jasper summoned her Crash Helmet, and fought the robots. One grabbed her by the leg and slammed her against a rock. She jumped back up and charged at one, headbutting it so hard that it split in half. It's goo inside of it leaked out everywhere, and she stepped in it.

"Ew..." She shook her foot and ran towards the Robonoid that had taken Lapis. The second Marble Robot blacked her path, scuttling from side to side when she tried to run past it. She growled, throwing a punch towards it, but she was caught by several tendrils that shot out of the robot. They squeezed her body, trying to make her relinquish her physical form, and retreat into her gem. She grabbed the tendrils and ripped them apart. She did a spin dash right through the robonoid, and it dropped to the ground.

Jasper was soaked with the goo, and she cringed. She hated the feeling of it. She wiped it off hastily, and looked for Lapis. The robot that had carried her off was no where in sight.

LAPIS

The robonoid that carried Lapis away had climbed a waterfall, and took her into a cave. It was dark and damp, and smelled musky. Deeper in, the ceiling started to glow, and so did her gem.

"It's Lapis Lazuli..." Lapis couldn't help but smile at the blue deposits of the gem swirling around the ceiling. It looked as if the robonoid followed the path that the lazuli was taking, but it could have just been her imagination. "Oh, Jasper will never find me in here- Oof!" The robonoid threw her on the ground and shrunk towards the ground. It stopped moving. Lapis picked herself up, and when she stood, the floor of the cavern began to glow.

The robonoid released a hologram of a Gem, making Lapis shrink down in fear. It was a hologram of Yellow Diamond.

"Lapis Lazuli." Yellow Diamond sneered. "You've been nothing but trouble since the day you returned back to Homeworld."

"Yellow Diamond! Just... just let me be free! I'm of no use to you, please."

"On the contrary, Lapis, you are _very_ important to this mission. Your hydrokinesis is a very powerful talent that I need to have on my side to battle these Earth Gems. But." Yellow Diamond's hologram stepped closer to Lapis.

"But?" Lapis gulped.

"But I need you to stop messing with my General's head. You could lead her down the wrong path, and I could lose my best warrior. I can't have that happen. So, I'm going to fix it." Her hologram reached behind her, and pulled out a syringe with a red liquid in it. The lapis lazuli stones in the cave glowed, sending blue light out, that wrapped around Lapis' body, forcing her onto her knees.

"What is that?" Lapis shrieked, trying to break free but she couldn't.

"It's a serum that I had created from corrupted Gems, that will infect y our mind and basically wipe your memories, feelings, and thoughts of Jasper from you. You'll be my perfect puppet, and you'll help me reclaim the Earth." Yellow Diamond laughed maniacally, kneeling next to Lapis.

"No! Don't! My feelings for her are all I have left! Please don't take them away!" Lapis felt estranged, and was horrified at the needle inching closer and closer to her flesh. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Jasper! I'm sorry I couldn't tell you how I really feel!"

The room suddenly lit up with an eerie orange light. Gems on the ceiling next to the lapis lazulis lit up and shot beams of light out that cut through Lapis' bindings and released her. Lapis sat up in shock, scooting quickly away from Yellow Diamond's hologram.

Jasper, a little scratched, and very tired, smashed the robonoid, sending the hologram back into nothingness.

"Don't think for one second, that I would have let you do something like that, Yellow Diamond."

Lapis cried tears of joy and ran at Jasper, who didn't have time to act shocked as Lapis embraced her.

"I'm so happy to see you. She was going to stab me with the needle..and I.. but you..."

"Lapis." Jasper picked Lapis up and squeezed her. "You're okay now."

Lapis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Jasper was right. The hologram was gone. No more needles, and no more thoughts of losing her feelings for Jasper. She allowed Jasper to carry her, but only because she wanted to gaze at the ceiling. She noticed that Jasper's gem was glowing a little, corresponding with the red-orange bands in the ceiling. Red jasper and the lapis lazuli gems swirled around together in a beautiful collusion of elements.

At the mouth of the cave she could only stare in awe at the green hunk of banded, raw stone hiding in the corner. It was swirled with different bands of green, and was absolutely beautiful.

"Malachite..."


	10. Chapter 10

LAPIS

Lapis didn't realize that she had fallen asleep. She didn't open her eyes at first, and tried to move, but couldn't. She moved her arms and felt something lying across her stomach. She opened her eyes and saw the reason why she couldn't move. Jasper's arm was around her, holding her tightly against her. Lapis' face flushed. She couldn't see Jasper at her angle, but she could hear that she was sleeping.

Jasper's hair made a soft pillow, and Lapis ran her fingers through it, amazed at how soft it felt. She found a chunk of robonoid goo lodged in her hair, and carefully pulled it out.

They laid on the beach, under the makeshift tent Lapis had made the previous day. Except it was different. The canvas was made transparent with magic, and you could see the entire sky. Jasper must have changed it while Lapis was out cold.

Jasper shifted, turning more onto her back. Lapis took this opportunity to turn her body towards the other, relieving pressure from her other hip. She went starry eyed when she saw Jasper's face, and she thought it was extremely cute while she slept. Her face had such a relaxed expression, and i was so unusual to see this Gem so laid back. She breathed softly through parted lips, sending chills up Lapis' spine.

It was as if Jasper could sense Lapis staring at her, because she slowly opened an eye and looked at her. Her face turned a deep shade of red, when she realized she was holding Lapis.

"Um..." Jasper was speechless.

Lapis smiled, and stared at Jasper's gem.

"I tried to move, but someone apparently wanted to cuddle." she said.

"Sorry..." Jasper moved her arm, laying it on her side. "You looked cold, and you were shivering last night..." Jasper looked at the sky. "Uh... earlier tonight? Feels like I've been asleep for a long time." She sat up and stretched, knocking the tent over. "Whoops."

"Whoa!" Lapis jumped up and pointed at the moon. It was full, bright, and absolutely beautiful. Jasper stood up beside her, also staring at the Earth's moon. She looked at the highest point of the island.

"I have an idea." Jasper hoisted Lapis up on her shoulders and ran towards the waterfalls in the center of the island.

"Ah! What are you...?" Lapis grabbed on to Jasper's hair tightly, trying her hardest not to fall off.

She stared at the ground as Jasper jumped up the first waterfall, scaring Lapis half to death. Jasper ran through the tropical trees and giant cracked geodes loaded with crystals. Lapis held on tighter as Jasper climbed up the second waterfall. There was one more left. Jasper walked now, all the fighting she had been doing had left her with little stamina to spare.

Lapis used her powers to form a hand that Jasper stood on. She brought them to the top of the third waterfall. Jasper let Lapis slide down off her back and stand on her own feet.

"Jasper... This is amazing!" Lapis' eyes twinkled at her view. Far above everything on the island, and above the trees, Lapis could see everything. The stars were bright, and the milky way danced across the sky among the stars.

Jasper looked away shyly. Lapis held her hand out to her, in a similar fashion as before, when Jasper manipulated her into doing it. Only this time she had a yearning, gorgeous smile on her face.

"No..." Jasper pushed Lapis' hand down gently. Lapis' heart dropped into her stomach and she looked down to the ground. Jasper lifted Lapis' chin to look at her. This time, Jasper held out her own hand to her.

Lapis took it, and they started to dance.

JASPER

Jasper pulled Lapis to her, twirling her gently. She was looking at a Gem who was radiant in the moonlight. Seeing Lapis smile, warmed Jasper's heart. Seeing her eyes sparkle in starlight, kept her anger at bay.

Lapis' dress flowed in the breeze. Jasper dipped her elegantly, and she leaned in, their faces were so close, she could feel Lapis' breath on her cheeks. Jasper pulled back, and whisked Lapis into a spin.

She could feel the power in their gems getting stronger, but she held her's back. She wouldn't be ready for another fusion anytime soon, the last one took a lot of her energy, and scared her a little. She hoped Lapis would understand, she wasn't ready.

Lapis released Jasper's hand and danced on her own a little, using such fluid motion, it reminded Jasper of the way water moves in a winding river. She watched in awe as Lapis danced, getting into her own groove. Jasper kept the beat, as Lapis kept going. She forgot to open her eyes to see the rock she tripped on. Lapis fell forwards, and Jasper caught her. She lifted her up and spun around, tripping herself and landing on her back. Lapis landed on top of her. She laughed.

"Whoa there, I think that's enough dancing for you. Lapis?" Jasper lifter her head. Lapis took Jasper's face in her hands, and kissed her.

Jasper allowed herself to be surprised for one second. She then wrapped her arms around Lapis, embraced her, and kissed her back. The feeling of their lips pressed together, felt so natural to her. Their gems glowed, and Jasper opened her eyes to see it just at the right time. She pulled away, just enough for Lapis to look her in the eyes.

"I can't, Lapis."

"I understand." Lapis kissed Jasper again, then rolled off of Jasper's body, staying cuddled up to her side. Jasper spooned Lapis, burying her face into her hair.

"Is this a dream?" Lapis asked. "I must be dreaming."

"If it is, I don't want it to end. Because that means I'll go back to being angry and full of hatred..." Jasper answered quietly.

"It doesn't have to end. We could stay here! No one would bother us here!"

"Oh, Lapis..."

"I'm serious Jasper." Lapis took Jasper's hand and intertwined it with her own. "Don't you want to... stay with me?"

She didn't know how to answer that question. When the time came, could she actually defy Yellow Diamond? How did she really feel about Lapis? She was so afraid to show weakness, but Lapis just made her insides melt. That brat of a Gem had a complete hold on her.

"Yes. Before that can happen, I need to figure out what to do about Yellow Diamond. She won't take me leaving so well. And what about Peridot? She is out there somewhere, probably looking for us."

"You're right. It's gonna be hard." Lapis sighed. "But whatever you choose, I'll be right there beside you. As long as you promise one thing. Steven stays safe."

"But..! Rose-"

"Jasper." Lapis turned and stared Jasper in the eyes. Jasper gulped, she could feel the raw emotion Lapis felt emanating from those azure eyes. "Steven is my friend."

Jasper pouted a little. "Fine."

A few minutes passed. Jasper had been fixated on staring at the same star constellation, and it hadn't moved at all.

"Hm, that's odd. Lapis... Something is wrong with this island."

Lapis stood.

"You're right! The moon hasn't moved at all!"

"Must be some weird Gem magic.."

"H-Hey! What is that!?" Lapis shrieked.

Jasper sprung up. She laughed when she saw the Crystal Shrimp that freaked Lapis out. She picked one up and ripped it in half, making it Poof!

"Come!" Lapis ran off, leaping off the cliff and down to the next level of waterfalls. Jasper followed her, weary of her carelessness.

"Look at this!" Lapis picked up a golden gem that had been lying on the grass.

"No! Lapis!"

The gem glowed. A white blob appeared, at first taking a humanoid shape, but then changed into a monster shaped like a giant golden bird monster.

"SCREE!" The bird grabbed Lapis in it's talons.

"Jasper!" Lapis cried.

Jasper looked around frantically and threw the closest thing she could find. Lapis saw the geode and tucked in her head so it wouldn't crash into her face. The bird dropped Lapis, and she fell right into Jasper's arms.

"Got you!"

"And I got this!" Lapis reached way back, catching the 'poofed' golden gem with the tips of her fingers.

"Lapis, I told you to leave it alone, it's obviously corrupted by some awful magic." Jasper moved Lapis' bangs out of her face.

"It used to be just like us, you know. It had feelings, a home, a purpose..."

Jasper put her down on her feet, and grabbed the gem from Lapis.

"Lapis, it used to. But it doesn't anymore, I'm sorry." Jasper squeezed the gem until it burst into dust.


	11. Chapter 11

LAPIS

"You didn't need to destroy it so violently." Lapis frowned. Seeing the golden gem destroyed so easily freaked her out a little, especially since it was done by Jasper's own hand.

Jasper shrugged, pushing her hair out of her face. Behind her Lapis saw something glowing underneath some large palm tree leaves. She cleared the brush, and revealed a warp pad lying underneath.

"Jasper, it's a warp!"

"If there is a warp here, then the Crystal Gems probably frequent this island to check for corrupted gems like the one we saw. We probably shouldn't stay any longer, or they'll find us." Jasper stood on the warp, and held out her hand for Lapis to take.

"I suppose you're right." Lapis pulled herself up onto the warp, and stood next to Jasper. The warp activated, and the draft caused Lapis' skirt to blow upwards. She blushed, pushing it back down with both hands.

They arrived in a place Lapis had never seen before. Stretched before her eyes were fields upon fields of wild giant strawberries. Huge Gem weapons were also scattered about, with vines and plants having taken them over.

"I know this place..." Jasper reminisced, stepping off the warp.

"You do? Looks like an old battlefield or something." Lapis jumped off the warp and slipped, falling into a strawberry. "Ew... It's all gushy!" Small white butterflies flocked to her, suckling the berry juice from her skin.

"That's because it _is_ an old Gem battlefield. This was the place where Rose Quartz's army and Yellow Diamond's army fought the final battle so many years ago, and I was here too." Jasper continued to walk on through the fields.

Lapis shooed the butterflies away, and chased after the other Gem. She didn't want to be left behind, and it was pretty obvious that Jasper was very distracted by this place. Seeing giant weapons being overtaken by these plants gave Lapis chills, it was creepy and not natural.

"There it is!" Jasper ran towards a large battleaxe sticking out of the ground. "This is where..." Jasper cleared her throat and changed the tone of her voice.

"What?" Lapis asked eagerly.

"This is where I nearly died, 5,000 years ago." Jasper squatted down, and stared at her reflection in the axe's blade.

"Story time?" Lapis asked, wanting to learn as much about Jasper as she could.

"Alright." Jasper sat down, with her back against the blade. Lapis sat in front of her, giving her undivided attention to the larger Gem.

"When the war happened all those years ago, it was Rose Quartz and her Crystal Gems who opposed us, the Homeworld Gems. We needed the Earth's resource, it's greatest resource, and that was life. We could produce more Gems here, than any other planet we've been to yet. Gem Warriors of all kinds fought here. Fusions, non-fusions, Gems that were small, and Gems that were huge. I was a non-fusion Gem that was selected to face the might of Rose." Jasper clenched her fist. "She saw something in this planet, in the creatures and humans that lived here. In the plants that now overtake this forsaken field of berries... She tried to persuade Yellow Diamond to leave this planet, to find another. Once Yellow Diamond decides she wants something though, she never gives up on trying to get it."

Jasper picked a melon sized strawberry that was next to her and put it on her lap, staring at the seeds. Lapis listened intently, leaning forward a little.

"So, Rose and I fought. I was no match for her though. Her shield, her strength, they were all too much for me, and I fell to my knees in defeat. That's when Yellow Diamond blasted the planet with a Gem Death Ray. Rose's bubble saved her closest companions. But she also saved me."

Lapis gasped.

"She told me; 'We aren't so different, you and I, and I hope you come to understand that one day. Now leave this planet.' And I respected her, and to this day I still don't know what she meant with those words." Jasper sniffed the strawberry, and took a bite of it. Lapis laughed at the look on her face, it was pure delight.

"Ew, you're eating it!" Lapis laughed.

"But the flavor... It's sweet, and juicy!"

"So Rose Quartz saved you..."

"Yeah, but that only made me want to become stronger so I could beat her into the ground." Jasper squeezed the strawberry, and it exploded, covering the two of them with red strawberry guts. Lapis frowned, giving Jasper a look that said; 'Are-you-kidding-me?' And wiped the juice off.

"Well, I have a story I want to share with you. Unlike you, I am not a Gem warrior. I was born in Homeworld, but I was made a slave at a Kindergarten on a distant planet. I was chained, beaten, and cursed at all the time. No matter what I did, they would abuse me, just to show that I was a prisoner, and I would never be free. One day I tried to escape." Lapis said, finding strawberry seeds on her dress and picking them off masterfully.

"Oh man... What happened then?"

Lapis thought about it.

"After that I was paid a visit by Yellow Diamond. I can't believe I nearly forgot about that. She told me that if I ever attempted to flee again, that she wouldn't hesitate to smash my gem. So I obeyed. I labored there for 1,000 years."

"Eesh. That's terrible Lapis!"

Lapis shrugged. "It's the past. It shaped who I am today. I'm not going to dwell on it, and I'm not going to forget it, all at the same time."

Just then Lapis felt her body lurch forward as the ground began to shake violently. She couldn't help thinking that this planet was out to get her, because they couldn't seem to go a day without something bad happening. She stood up, summoned her wings, and flew up into the sky. She looked around, but saw nothing that could have caused the Earth to shake.

"We can never get any peace, can we Lapis?" Jasper got up, and steadied herself against the giant battle axe.

The ground shook even harder, knocking Jasper on to her back. The battle axe started to tip towards her, the blade aimed to split her body right in half. She spread her legs as wide as they would go, and caught the axe inches before it would have sliced her apart. She summoned all her strength, and tossed it to the side.

"Jasper, are you okay... Oh. My. Gosh." Lapis froze, almost forgetting to flap her wings.

A huge dragonesque creature was trampling through the fields, heading in their direction. It was a Gem beast, and Lapis saw it's gem right in the middle of it's forehead.

"Jasper, we need to warp out of here!" She flew down to the ground and landed next to Jasper.

"Right." Jasper picked herself up, and her and Lapis made a run for the warp pad. They were just about to reach it, when a large scaly tail slammed down, cutting them off and destroying the warp pad.

"No!" Lapis jumped back, staring at the creature in it's full glory. The Gem dragon blew fire at them, but they both dodged the attack.

"We're too weak!" Jasper called. "I hate to say this, but we need to fuse!"

"I can't dance right now, are you kidding me! I'm-" Lapis was cut off when the dragon grabbed her, pulling her towards its slobbery mouth. She struggled, but the beast had a tight grip on her. She couldn't help but stress about how weak she was, and how her being weak put Jasper in danger trying to save her all the time.

The Gem dragon opened its mouth and dropped her. She closed her eyes, but opened one in time to see Jasper in her Crash Helmet slam into the beast's gem. Lapis was too weak to summon her wings. As the beast disintegrated, they were falling. Jasper dove towards Lapis and wrapped her arms and legs around her, making it so Jasper's body would take the impact from the fall.

"Jasper..." Lapis caressed her cheek, tears streaming from her eyes. She moved her fingers over Jasper's gem, which Lapis saw started to crack. "No... no... no!" she wailed, squeezing the orange Gem tightly.

"Lapis, look at me." Jasper turned Lapis' face back towards hers. Lapis watched Jasper's gem crack grow, spreading across her left eye and face. "Please don't cry for me. You deserve to be free."

"Don't say that!"

"I love you, Lapis." Jasper smiled.

She didn't get the chance to say it back. They hit the ground, and Jasper poofed, sending Lapis into a giant strawberry. She crawled out hastily and ran to where they landed. Jasper's gem lay on the ground, with a defined crack in it, running completely across the gem. She picked it up and held it against her chest. She cried, and cried, and cried.

"I'll save you..." she promised.


	12. Chapter 12

LAPIS

Lapis undid the silky fabric that Jasper had given her, and carefully wrapped Jasper's gem in it, and tucked in into her top. She flew towards what she perceived to be the mainland. Over the ocean she felt safer, but that hardly made up for the complete feeling of loss she felt.

She saw the Crystal Gems base growing larger in the distance. There was only one Gem she knew of with healing powers, and he was the Gem who cured hers. Steven Universe, the Half-Gem with Rose Quartz's powers. She was prepared to beg him to save Jasper's gem, before it was too late.

She dove down into the water, and moved cautiously towards the shore. She peeked her head up out of the water, and saw Steven and a girl making sand angels on the beach.

"Well, that's no good." Lapis went back in the water and sat in the muck. "Who's that girl with him I wonder?"

"I told you Steven, I swear I saw a girl out here! She could be drowning!" The girl Lapis just saw stuck her head in the water and looked directly at Lapis. The girl pulled Steven into the water, and he choked when he saw her. Up close, she recognized the girl as Connie, Steven's friend that she had almost drowned.

"Lapis!?" Steven mouthed, grabbing her arm and pulling her up onto the beach.

"Hi, Steven..." Lapis tucked her hair behind her ear.

"What are you doing here? If the Gems see you, they'll hurt you!" Steven looked back towards his house, as if he expected Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl to just run at them out of nowhere.

"I know but Steven... I..." She took the clump of fabric out of her top and carefully unwrapped the gem. She held it between both of her cupped blue hands.

"What do you got there? Treasure?" Steven asked, leaning forward in excitement.

"Not exactly."

"I wanna see!" Connie leaned in too.

"Um..." Lapis opened her hands and revealed the gem to them.

Steven's face quickly contorted from excitement to complete disgust and fear.

"L-Lapis! That's Jasper's gem! But wait.. It's broken, so you defeated her?" Steven looked at Lapis with naive confusion.

Connie studied Lapis' face.

"No, I didn't defeat her. I came here, because I know you have healing powers, and I want you to save her."

Steven jumped up and clenched his fists.

"Why? I can't do it Lapis. If Jasper is defeated, then the Earth is safe. I'm sorry." Steven took Connie's arm and pulled her away. They disappeared around the cliff, leaving Lapis alone and disheartened.

She wasn't going to give up. She couldn't, Jasper's survival depended on her. She walked towards where Steven and Connie left, and peeked around the corner, seeing them huddled together. She eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Steven, why do you think she would ask you to heal Jasper's gem? Isn't she free now? Wasn't she the one Jasper forced to fuse with her, in attempt to hurt all of you?" Connie asked, obviously loaded with a bunch of information.

"Yes, and I don't know. But, she looked so sad. I want to help her but..."

Lapis felt a shadow cast over her. She turned wearily and looked up at the face of the fusion Gem, Garnet. She had her hands on her hips, her eyes covered with her signature glasses.

"Lapis Lazuli. I see you and Jasper are defused. Where is she?" she demanded in her usual demeanor.

"Garnet!" Steven and Connie ran back around to them and watched them.

Lapis held Jasper's gem closely to her heart, and gritted her teeth.

"I have her." she replied.

"I'll take it then." Garnet held out her hand.

"No." Lapis took a step back.

"Lapis just give it to Garnet. We won't hurt you!" Steven cried.

"I can't do that Steven! I won't." Lapis took a couple more steps back.

"She hurt me and my friends Lapis, she hurt you, why are you protecting her!" Steven said.

"Because I- NO!" Lapis' hand was kicked by Garnet, sending Jasper's gem flying into the air.

"Gotcha!" Connie caught the gem and looked at it in awe. "It's pretty cracked. Here Garnet." Connie tossed the orange gem to Garnet.

Lapis started to hyperventilate. They shouldn't be so careless with that gem, it could break at any given moment. Garnet held the gem in her open fist and summoned her gauntlet on the other.

"Garnet, you're not going to bubble her?"

"Nope." Garnet slammed her fist down.

"I LOVE HER!" Lapis screamed. Garnet's fist stopped, and Steven and Connie gasped. Everyone was silent. Lapis blushed, looking away after seeing that Garnet was too shocked to crush the gem. She was probably having an internal conversation with herself. Lapis decided to do something brave. Her gem glowed, causing the area to get dark. Holograms were formed, and Lapis showed them the Jasper that she knew.

Pearl and Amethyst had come outside just as the hologram started. During the dancing scenes, Pearl tried to cover the children's eyes, (Lapis didn't understand why,) but they peeked through her fingers anyway.

It reached the part where Jasper punched the Gem Dragon in the gem, and Lapis saw the chunk of dragon bits that hit Jasper's gem, causing it to crack in the first place. When Hologram Jasper told Lapis she loved her, real Lapis fell to her knees and cried, grabbing clumps of sand between her fingers. That was the end of the story.

She looked up at Garnet, who had visible tears streaking down her face. She adjusted her glasses, and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand.

"Do you understand? I wasn't strong enough to protect myself, and Jasper was always risking everything for me." Lapis sobbed, sifting the sand between her fingers.

Garnet knelt in front of Lapis, and placed both hands on her shoulders. "I know exactly how you feel." She looked to the Half-Gem. "Steven?"

Steven stepped forward, and wiped his own tears away. He licked his hand and slapped it onto Jasper's gem. It started to glow, and rise into the air. A white blob of energy surrounded the gem, and took on Jasper's form.

Lapis noted several differences in Jasper's appearance when she reformed. Her hair was pulled back into a low puffy ponytail, but still was as long as ever. She had on a black tank top, belted cargo pants, and boots. She stretched, cracking a few air bubbles in her back.

"Ah, I feel great!" She laughed.

Lapis was filled with a feeling of joy so great at the sight of Jasper's return, that she leapt at her and embraced her, crying tears of joy.

"Lapis," Jasper squished Lapis' cheeks together. "No more crying. I'm okay!"

"You brat!" Lapis cried, and then laughed a little. "I thought I had lost you."

"Nope, I'm still here, thanks to you and uh.. Steven."

"I'm sorry." Garnet pushed Jasper down into the sand, and bound her wrists together.

"What?" Lapis was shocked. It was just one thing after the other.

"Don't worry." Steven took Lapis' hand. "They're not going to hurt Jasper, they're just scared, especially after what happened last time they met. They just want to talk." Steven and Lapis followed Garnet, who lead Jasper right into Steven's house.


	13. Chapter 13

JASPER

Jasper had been sitting on the couch in Steven's room for half an hour, just staring at the Crystal gems, Steven, and Lapis who were all huddled up in a circle by the warp pad. She couldn't hear what they were saying, and it made her angry. All she could do was clench her teeth.

Lapis turned and smiled at her, tucking her hair behind her ear. Jasper blushed, and made a pouty face at her. She was really starting to hate the feeling of being a prisoner; she now understood how Lapis felt.

The huddle disbanded. Amethyst grabbed a ton of food out of the fridge, and then went into her own room in the temple. Pearl entered her room as well, leaving Garnet, Steven and Lapis behind. Garnet stood in front of Jasper, and removed her glasses from her face. They made eye contact, and neither one broke that contact.

"We are going to unbind you. You will stay here, and prove to us that you've changed. I will be watching you, very carefully. Now lean forward." Garnet unbound Jasper's hands, and left to go to her own room in the temple.

"Agh!" Jasper raised her fist and went to slam her fist down on the table, but Lapis jumped in front of it, causing her to stop.

"Let's not break their stuff." Lapis laughed nervously.

Jasper unclenched her fist and took a deep breath. She saw that Steven, the kid with Rose's gem, was staring at her, almost like an animal caught in headlights.

"Thanks kid." She said.

"You know... Lapis, you haven't ever seen Beach City right? At least in person? Do you want me to give you a tour?" Steven ignored Jasper, and addressed Lapis.

"Sure, I'll come with, Steven. But only if Jasper can come too. I haven't been able to spend much time with her since you healed her." Lapis looked at Jasper, who just shrugged.

"Just go have some fun, not like I can go anywhere. I'll be here when you come back."

"Okay." Lapis followed Steven outside, leaving Jasper alone in Steven's house.

LAPIS

Steven led Lapis into Beach City, making a stop at his favorite fry place.

"I'll take the bits, Peedee!"

Lapis grimaced as Steven stuffed his face with what he called 'frybits.' He offered her some, but she politely declined. She followed Steven to a bench on the beach, where they sat and gazed at the sea.

"Lapis, were all those things you showed us all true?" Steven asked, taking Lapis' hand and squeezing it. "You're away from... from Jasper so you can feel safer telling me the truth."

"Oh, Steven." Lapis knelt in front of Steven and kept eye contact with him. "Jasper, may not seem very... fun to be around, but what I showed you all, was an exact copy of actual events seen by my gem. Just like how I could show you things when I was trapped in that mirror."

"When you guys disappeared into the ocean, Garnet said you two were bad for each other." he replied. Lapis smiled at his innocence and naivety.

"That was because at that point, Jasper manipulated me into fusing with her in order to fight you and the Crystal Gems. She was following her orders, and she was so ashamed to lose, that she went against something she thought she believed in, in order to try and beat you. But I'm no saint either. I fused with her, for the sole purpose of betraying her to protect you, my first friend. So, all in all it was a meaningless, loveless fusion. Something I believe should never be done."

"Oh, I see." Steven crumpled up his bag and stuffed it in his pocket. "I'm so happy you're okay Lapis. When that ship crashed, I thought you were doomed."

Lapis laughed.

"Me too Steven, me too."

They walked back to the house, for the sun was setting and it was getting dark outside. Lapis could see Jasper standing on the deck, leaning against the railing. Steven went in the house, and Lapis joined her orange companion.

"Hey brat." Jasper smiled, putting one beefy arm around her shoulders.

"Ah, always with the brat word, huh. So, here we are."

"Yeah. Is this really what we want Lapis? To be stuck on this planet forever?"

"It's not like we can go back. We defied Yellow Diamond, and she'll be coming for us. For all of us." Lapis said, leaning into the larger Gem.

"I'll prove to those Gems that I won't hurt them, if that's what you wish, but I can't stay here. We need to leave, and I want you to come with me." Jasper lifted Lapis up, and sat her on the rail so they were eye to eye.

"I'll go with you, wherever you see fit Jasper. At this rate, I can't see myself without you." Lapis blushed, tucking her hair behind her ear like she always did when she was feeling shy. Jasper embraced her, holding her tightly. Lapis looked over her shoulder and her face flushed even more.

"Jasper," Lapis whispered, "we have an audience."

Jasper turned around quickly and blushed the deepest red color that Lapis had ever seen. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and even Steven were staring out the window watching them.

"Haven't you Gems heard of privacy!" Jasper threw her hands in the air and stomped away. Lapis could only giggle as the Crystal gems dispersed.

 **I have no idea where I'm going with this story. Each Chapter feels more and more like little episode blips. I'm having fun writing cute little scenes, so I guess we'll just have to see~**


	14. Chapter 14

JASPER

The next morning Jasper said good-bye to Lapis, who chose to go on a mission with the Crystal Gems. Steven couldn't go with, because they were going to the old Sea Spire, and it was more than likely underwater. Meaning Lapis' hydrokinesis would be very helpful to them. Lapis had told Jasper that she was interested in seeing the ruins, so she warped away with the promise that she would be careful.

"Can I have Connie over?" Steven asked, after everyone left.

Jasper looked surprised.

"What, you're asking me?" She pointed to herself and blinked a couple times.

"Well, you're the one who is here..." Steven stuck his hands in his pockets and kicked at the ground nervously.

"Uh...Yes? No...Yes?" Jasper rubbed her head nervously, she didn't know what to say to this kid.

"Well, we'll be on the beach if you need something." Steven ran out the door and down the steps without another word to her.

Jasper went over to the window and looked out, just to see Steven and Connie sitting in the sand talking to one another. The sun was shining down brightly, and the sky was a blue that made her think of Lapis' perfectly smooth skin. She shook her head and decided to leave through the front door, down to the beach where the children were. Steven and Connie cut her off.

"Hey, where are you going?" Steven asked.

"I was just going to uh.. explore." Suddenly her mouth felt dry, why did she have to explain herself to this kid?

"Right..." We're coming with you." Steven smiled, walking next to her.

"What, no! I can handle myself."

"What if Peridot appears?" Steven asked, giving Jasper a serious look.

"Peridot!" she laughed. "I'm the one you should have been worried about, not her." she clutched her stomach, trying to hold back a fit of giggles.

"Hey Steven!" A taller boy with yellow dreadlocks ran out from behind a rock towards the three of them. He snapped a picture of Jasper with his phone. "Cool skin tone, I like it!" She covered her eyes, the flash blinded her for a second.

"Renaldo! What are you doing down here?" Steven smiled, giving Renaldo a high-five.

"I found something new for my blog! Follow me and I'll show you!" Renaldo ran off. Steven and Connie followed him. Jasper should have taken this as an opportunity to ditch them, but decided she was curious about this odd human. So, she followed as well.

As they walked along the beach, Jasper realized that pieces of Peridot's ship still lay around. They walked through part of an old hallway. Suddenly Renaldo stopped, and hopped down into a large crater.

"Check it out Ste-man! You can't tell me that a hole this size was made by you! What do you think made it?" Renaldo asked, walking around the edge of the hole.

"It looks like a giant hand print..." Connie said, jumping down in the hole as well.

"Yes! A hand print of an invisible man! Woo~" Renaldo laughed, typing furiously on his phone.

Jasper studied the hand print. Being as tall as she was she had a view of it that the humans didn't. If it _was_ a hand print, it was huge, and the only thing big enough to make it was... She swallowed thickly, and face-palmed herself.

"Something wrong?" Steven asked, climbing out of the hole to stand next to her. He barely stood as tall as her knee.

"I don't want to burst your bubble k id, but I created this hole. More specifically, Malachite made this hole. Remember?"

"Oh. That makes sense." Steven nodded.

"Malachite?" Renaldo and Connie asked, standing in the middle of the hole.

"A giant Gem monster made up of Jasper and Lapis. This is their hand print." Steven explained to them quickly.

"Ah, well it doesn't disprove my sentient rock theory!" Renaldo laughed like a maniac and started snapping multiple pictures with his phone.

"It's not a theory, it's the truth." Didn't this human know anything?

"Shh. Just let him be happy." Steven said, helping Connie out of the hole.

"Humans are strange creatures." Jasper muttered under her breath. She once again was following Steven and Connie into the town, getting long drawn out stares from every human she walked past. She entered the donut shop called the 'Big Donut.' She had to duck down in order to fit through the door.

"Sadie! Sadie!" Steven jumped up and down. "Lars! Hey, Lars!"

"Hi Steven. Hello Connie." Sadie, the small blonde human who worked there smiled warmly at them. "Who's your friend?"

"That's Jasper. She's uh... new."

"We'll take two chocolate donuts please!" Connie put a couple dollars on the counter.

"I'll throw in a free one for her." Sadie got the donuts, and put them in a little baggy for them. Jasper was looking at the odd pictures on the bulletin board, she turned to look at a different area of the building, and noticed that Sadie was staring at her.

"Can I..." Sadie whispered.

"What?" Jasper asked, hardly able to hear the small human.

"Can I touch your hair!?" She blurted out, hiding her face behind her hands. Jasper raised an eyebrow, and looked to Steven. He shrugged, and stayed silent. She sighed.

"Sure." She sat down on the hard cold floor, so the short human could reach. Sadie approached her cautiously.

"Are you sure... it's okay?" she asked again.

"If it weren't okay, you'd be smashed into the ground by now." Realizing what she said, she covered her mouth with her hand. "No, I mean. Yes, it's okay."

Sadie laughed nervously, and felt Jasper's hair. A huge smile appeared on her face, and she moved closer, rubbing it against her face.

"It's so soft!" She said, pulling Connie and Steven over to touch it too.

Jasper gave them a few minutes, then stood up. Sadie went back behind the counter. Connie and Steven handed each other their donuts, and Connie handed one to Jasper.

"What is it?" She looked at it curiously, sticking her finger through the hole in the middle.

"Eat it." Steven shoved his in his mouth.

"Gems don't need to eat."

"Just do it!"

"Okay, okay!" She took a bite of the donut. The rich creamy flavor of chocolate lit up her taste buds, and she quickly ate the rest of the donut.

Jasper thanked Sadie before leaving the donut shop. Connie's Dad picked her up, and they drove away.

"Jasper, you're pretty cool." Steven said nonchalantly as they walked back to the house.

"Thanks, I think." She roughed up Steven's hair, and then ran off towards the house. Once inside, she saw that the house was still empty.

Steven came in behind her and went up the stairs to his loft.

"Don't worry, sometimes they're not back for days." he called down to her.

It was strange for her to be separated from Lapis for this long, and couldn't help but worry about her. She was going to sit on the couch, but Steven's pink Lion was there, and growled at her.

"Lion! That's not very nice! Jasper, you can hang out up here for a bit if you want."

She didn't have much of a choice. She trudged up the stairs and sat on the floor at the end of Steven's bed. She stretched her legs out in front of her.

"Here." Steven handed her a video game controller. She held it awkwardly in her large hands. She stared at it while he turned his TV on, and sat in her lap. He put his hands on hers, and helped her play the game. She felt so lonely at this point, she didn't mind that he sat there, invading her personal space

"Is this how you humans waste your time?" She asked, not taking her eyes away from the screen.

"It's how I make time go faster so I can not worry about my friends, like you're worrying about Lapis." he said quietly, looking up at her. She felt her face heat up and started pressing the buttons furiously.

Time passes, and Jasper continued to play. She felt her eyelids become heavy, as sleep overtook her body. Steven curled up in her lap and snored softly, the 8 bit melodies from the TV were lulling her into a deep trance.

The warp pad lit up, filling the room with a bright white light, breaking the temptations hold on her. Still holding Steven, Jasper ran down the stairs, eager to see Lapis return. When the light faded away, only Pearl stood there, disheveled and dirty.

"Pearl!" Steven jumped out of Jasper's arms and ran to Pearl. "Pearl, where's Garnet and Amethyst?"

Pearl held open both hands, revealing Garnet's gems, and Amethyst's gem.

"Oh good." Steven sighed.

Jasper slammed her fist into the pillar next to her. "Where's Lapis?" She demanded, her heart beating twice as fast as usual in her throat. Her anxiety was rising, she could feel that something was very wrong.

"We tried to save her... But the cave in..." Pearl gasped, unable to look at Jasper any longer.

Jasper clutched her chest, taking in sharp breaths. She could feel angry tears soaking her face. She thought her head was going to explode, it was pounding so hard. Rage was settling in. She jumped on the warp pad, and Pearl jumped off. She activated the pad. At the last second, Steven jumped in the stream, and Jasper barely heard Pearl's screams after him.

"What are you doing!" Jasper yelled angrily.

"You're not the only one who cares about Lapis, Jasper!"

Jasper was taken aback by this kid's spunk, and heart. He hugged her leg, and she broke down, crying harder than she ever had in her entire life.

"We'll save her together!"


	15. Chapter 15

JASPER

Right before they arrived at their destination, Steven bubbled himself so he'd be able to breathe. To their surprise though, the inside of the cavern was an air pocket, and wasn't actually underwater. Jasper barely caught a chunk of ceiling that was about to fall directly on their heads. She threw it off to the side. Looking around, she saw that the structure of the magical space they were in, was extremely unstable.

"Stay close to me Steven, I can see why the other Gems didn't want you here, it's very dangerous."

"Right." Steven agreed.

The two of them walked through the ruinous caverns of the Sea Spire. Algae grew along the walls, and fish pressed their little faces against a magical barrier that contained the space they were in. Water damage had washed away ancient Gem crafts and designs on the walls.

Jasper recognized these halls, and they brought back strange and old memories. Gem society had changed so much since she was last here. It was pretty sad to see it destroyed.

"Hey Jasper, what is that?" Steven pointed to a gem that was just floating in the air.

"Steven... Look out!" She pushed Steven's bubble out of the way of a shark shaped beast that tried to chomp the bubble he was still in. She punched the beast in the jaw, and it poofed. Jasper stepped on the gem.

"Jasper, wait!" Steven cried out. "We don't destroy the gems, we collect them to see if maybe we can help them later. You have to bubble it."

"I have to do what?" She moved her foot and picked the gem up. It automatically manifested into an orange colored bubble.

"Now send it to the temple."

"Okay..." She tapped the bubble and it disappeared. "Weird..."

"Jasper, look over here!" Steven rolled his bubble towards a large pile of rocks. Jasper figured it must be where the cave in took place.

"Lapis!" Jasper called, punching the rocks with her bare fists. There was no answer. She punched more furiously, sending rubble flying this way and that way. Steven was glad he was in his bubble, so rocks just bounced off of him.

They dug in the rocks for what felt like hours, Steven even left the safety of his bubble to help move loose rubble. Jasper's knuckles were bleeding from the impact of her fist to the stone, and her punches had slowed way down. She was so furious with everything, herself, the Gems, at the stupid rocks in front of her.

"Jasper, we should take a break, you're bleeding!" Steven said, breaking Jasper's concentration.

"I can't... I won't stop until she's found safe and sound!" The next punch she threw made a loud cracking sound, and she screamed as the bones in her hand broke. She clutched the wall and slid down it, super pissed at herself for not being able to punch through the wall of rock. It's not like she could have used her powers, for fear of potentially moving the rock in way that would crush Lapis, if she wasn't already gone.

"Jasper..."

"I'm worthless! Weak! I'm weak..." Jasper stared at her hands and watched the blood pour out onto the ground. "No matter what I do, I can't seem to protect her. Whether its just me as myself, or as a fusion..." She grabbed her chest, and tried to calm down.

"You're not weak, Jasper! It's not about any of that, it's about your feelings for Lapis. That's your redeemable quality. You can do anything, as long as its for her!" Steven tried to encourage her.

Her hands were shaking. She couldn't think, she couldn't move, she could hardly breathe. (Not that she needed to.) Steven clenched his fist and started punching the wall himself.

"Steven! No, it's not safe!" Jasper jumped up and kicked a boulder out of the way that fell from higher up on the pile of rocks.

"We have to find... LAPIS!" Steven's gem glowed, and Rose's symbol lit up a large boulder in front of them.

"Rose..."

"Jasper, break that boulder!" Steven exclaimed, jumping back from the wall. She summoned her Crash Helmet and headbutted the rock, shattering it easily. Underneath was a small opening, where she found Lapis unconscious and lying on the ground. Jasper pulled her out, not caring about how much her hand was killing her, and sat on the floor with Lapis' head on her lap. She kissed the top of Lapis' forehead, and held out her arm to Steven. He got starry-eyed and ran in, hugging her.

"Thank-you, Steven. For not giving up on me. And don't tell anyone about how much you've seen me cry." She laughed softly.

"We'll have time for that later, the whole place is going to cave in!" He pointed to the rock pile that started to crumble, and the ceiling had begun to crack. Jasper looked up, and watched it start to spread. She threw Lapis over her shoulder and grabbed Steven, holding him under her arm. She dodged falling pillars and rocks, and booked it towards the warp pad. A large piece of the ceiling dropped.

"Ugh... Jasper...?" Lapis woke, disoriented and confused.

"No!" The massive rock smashed the warp pad. The support beam that held the magical space together gave way, and they were all going to be crushed by the ceiling.

"Ah!" Steven crouched down and covered his face.

Lapis leaned back and saw the destruction about to happen. She looked Jasper in the eyes, and kissed her. Their gems glowed, and she felt the power of Malachite fusing their two bodies together, making her feel stronger. This fusion felt different from the first time. Malachite was still huge, but this time she had two legs, and two arms. She crouched over Steven, the pillar falling onto her shoulders. Water rushed in around them. She scooped Steven up into her hands, and swam to the surface of the ocean as fast as she could. She opened her hands, and held Steven level to her face.

Steven coughed up some water, then looked up at the fusion Gem.

"Malachite!" Steven stared at them in awe.

"Steven." She smiled, happy to see him safe.

"You look... different. Somehow."

They reached a depth were Malachite could stand and walk towards the shore. Steven clung to her thumb, and looked down at everything.

"Whoa! You have legs this time! And only two arms! But ew... You still have four eyes..." Steven laughed nervously.

"Silence, brat." Malachite said in Jasper's voice, but she smiled, meaning no harm.

On the beach in front of the Crystal gems temple was Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. They must have sensed Malachite's approach, because they had their weapons drawn in anticipation. Malachite set Steven down gently, and placed her hands on her hips. Garnet was the first to get rid of her gauntlets, and had a huge grin on her face.

Malachite closed her eyes and defused, splitting back up into Jasper and Lapis. Jasper landed in the tide, and when she sat up, she was knocked back down from Lapis leaping into her arms.

"Jasper, don't be mad at the Crystal Gems. I sent them away knowing that I might have been trapped there. I thought that if the cave would have flooded, I would have been able to save myself, but... I should've known you'd come for me though." Lapis caressed Jasper's cheek with her hand, tracing lines across Jasper's markings.

"Stupid." She replied, gazing back into Lapis' azure blue eyes.

"You guys!" Steven jumped into their embrace and hugged both of them. "Thank you for saving me."

Jasper looked past Steven, and saw Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet all smiling at them. Garnet held out her hands and pulled them up on their feet.

"You guys saved Steven, and yourselves. Thank you. I trust you. Please, feel free to stay, but don't think that you have to." Garnet slugged Jasper in the shoulder and walked away. Amethyst and Pearl nodded, then followed their leader.

"I hope you stay." Steven directed his words towards her. "At least for a little while." He turned quickly and ran off after the Crystal Gems.

"Jasper, don't you want to know why I wanted to go to the Lunar Spire so bad? It was for this!" Lapis took Jasper's hand and placed a pendant necklace in it. She held it up into the light. Half of it was made of lapis lazuli, and half was red jasper. In the middle, separating the two was a band of malachite.

"You know this is super cheesy, right?" She snorted, making Lapis blush. Lapis looked away and pouted her lips out a little. "Ah, but I will treasure it!" Jasper put it around her neck and tucked it into her shirt.

"That necklace symbolizes our synergy. You got me this pretty fabric, so I got you that pendant so you can always think of me, even if I'm far away."

"Y-You..." Jasper covered her faced with her good hand, and started to choke up.

"You've been... oddly emotional lately... are you okay?"

"You brat! Don't you ever scare me like that again! I swear to you right here and right now that if you die, I will die too. I will end my existence and join you in the void. I thought I lost you, for real, and that was the worst feeling in the world. Remember what you said to me when you drug me into the ocean?"

"Let's stay on this miserable planet, together." They said in unison, bringing their foreheads together.


	16. Chapter 16

LAPIS

Lapis was so accustomed to sleeping at night, that when the Gems offered to hang out with her, she had to politely decline. Only Amethyst understood, saying that she also enjoyed to pretend sleep.

"Pretend sleep?" She thought to herself as she wove her body into Jasper's arms on the couch in Steven's house. Jasper had become such a heavy sleeper, that she didn't even notice.

Steven, being Steven, shook out a blanket and laid it over the two of them.

"Goodnight Lapis!" Steven called, turning off his T.V.

"Goodnight Steven."

When Lapis woke up, the first thing she noticed was the fact that Jasper was not on the couch next to her. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She folded the blanket neatly and laid it on a cushion. She could see that there was a huge mess in the kitchen, so she decided to clean it up. The warp pad lit up, and Jasper returned, holding her hands behind her back.

"Ah, L-Lapis." She stuttered, shuffling to the side, trying not to let Lapis see what she had behind her back.

Lapis hopped over the counter and used her wings to hover at the level of Jasper's eyes.

"What are you hiding from me?" Lapis asked, giving Jasper the cutest smile she could.

"Um... Nothing..."

"Jasper..." She leaned in like she was going to kiss her, and licked her gem instead. Jasper's demeanor melted, and she let her guard down. Lapis was able to grab whatever she was hiding out of Jasper's grip.

"Cheap shot!" Jasper crossed her arms.

"It's a... a strawberry! You went to the fields to pick this? Why?" She asked, chuckling as she put the berry on the kitchen counter.

"I like them, okay?" Jasper grunted, leaning against the counter.

"You've changed so much." Lapis carved a chunk of the strawberry and handed it to the orange Gem.

"It's not that easy to be nice all the time, but I guess you could say that love can change a Gem." Jasper shoved the strawberry into her mouth, squirting juice all over the place.

"Honestly!" Lapis wiped the strawberry off her face.

At that moment, Steven walked in, and Connie walked in behind him.

"Jasper, Lapis," she nodded to them.

"Hey." Jasper said, her mouth full of strawberry.

"Is that what I think it is? Cool!" Steven sat at the counter and grabbed a chunk of strawberry for himself. Lapis cut off a chunk for Connie, who thanked her politely.

"Itadakimasu!" Connie said before digging into her berry. "Where is everyone else?" She asked, looking at the two Gems nervously.

"They heard of a corrupt gem out in the arctic and left to take care of it. Looks like you're outta luck." Jasper replied.

"Oh man, I have two extra tickets to the carnival at Funland today, and was hoping they would come..." Steven looked at Connie. "Well, wait, do you guys want to come?"

"Yes!" Lapis clapped her hands together.

"No..." Jasper frowned. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Sure." They answered together.

"Great!"

"Steven, are you sure?"

The two children moved out of earshot of the Gems, and they looked like they were stuck in a deep conversation with each other.

"What is a carnival?" Jasper whispered, eyeing Lapis curiously.

"It's like, a human festival with like, games, food, rides, and stuff. I think what Steven really wants is to share this experience with us, because it's something he really enjoys."

"Ah... I see."

"It's decided!" Steven ran up to Lapis and Jasper, and handed them each an 'Admit One' ticket. "Come to the wharf at sundown, okay? 6 o' clock! Oh, and dress nicely!" With that, Steven and Connie exited the house again.

"I'll be back at sundown then, I need to see if I can sense Peridot in the area. The fact that she hasn't shown up, really bothers me." Jasper kissed Lapis on the forehead, and also left out the front door.

Lapis sighed, looking up at a portrait of the Crystal Gems' Matriarch, Rose Quartz. Steven had told her at one point that Rose loved, and believed in every living creature on this planet, even bad Gems, monsters, plants... Would she approve of her and Jasper? Would it even matter?

"Lapis!" Pearl waved her hand in front of Lapis' face, snapping her out of her trance.

"Oh, sorry Pearl." She shook her head and went back to the kitchen, to wash the dishes that had been dirtied.

"No worries." Pearl looked around the room, and started realigning the furniture.

"Pearl?" Lapis turned and made eye contact with the Crystal Gem.

"Yes?"

She smiled and turned back to the sink.

"Nevermind."

Pearl raised an eyebrow at her, and sat at the counter, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"I thought you guys went to the arctic?" Lapis asked while scrubbing a pot that had Mac and Cheese stuck to it.

"Oh, they did. It's far to cold for me though, so I stayed home. I was practicing my interpretive dance." Pearl replied, sipping at her tea.

"Ah." She put the last dish away, and went to the window. The sun was starting to set. Lapis called forth power in her gem, and gave herself a new dress, and a pretty green flower barrette in her hair. The sparkly blue ribbon that Jasper had given her was tied neatly around her waist. Still flawless, and still beautiful. She even gave herself a neat pair of flat sandals, so her feet weren't bare anymore.

"What do you think?" Lapis asked, twirling a little for Pearl.

Pearl inhaled her tea a little too fast, and blushed. "I think the new look suits you very well."

"Thanks! Have a nice evening!" Lapis gave a little curtsy, and left the house. She walked down to the Funland wharf, and saw Steven and Connie waiting for her at the entrance.

"Lapis!" Steven smiled, waving her down to him. "Welcome to the 5th annual Funland carnival! There's so many things I want to show you!"

"Have you seen Jasper yet?" she asked, looking around for sight of the orange Gem.

"Nope. Come on!"

Lapis hesitantly followed Steven, a little worried that Jasper hadn't shown up. She even felt a little angry that she wasn't there. Only a little.

They rode rides, played carnival games, (Lapis cheated at the water gun game, and won a stuffed bear), and ate lots of different fried foods. Lapis chose to taste each one, but she always declined eating her own portion of it. She was just trying to amuse Steven.

It was getting very dark now, and Jasper still hadn't arrived. Lapis was very disheartened, and was unsure as to why she was feeling so down in the dumps. She boarded the roller coaster behind Steven and Connie, and felt a tinge of jealousy when she watched them laughing and talking with each other.

"Lapis, there's only one ride left!" Steven pulled her towards what he called a 'Ferris Wheel', after they had left the roller coaster. She had seen one before when she was trapped in the mirror, many years ago. She knew it was a common ride for couples. "The fireworks are going to start soon! Maybe you'll get stopped at the top so you can watch them better!" Steven and Connie hopped in their car together, and Mr. Smiley rotated the ride so an empty car was in front of her.

Lapis stared at the car. This was supposed to be a ride that two people shared together, not for her to experience alone. She hung her head and turned away, running right into someone.

"I'm so sorry, I'm-" Lapis looked up at the face of Jasper, who smiled warmly at her.

"Am I late?" I thought you guys said sundown... I've been looking for you, but you're not exactly easy to spot in the dark." Jasper shifted her weight and rocked nervously.

"You..." Lapis couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably. She pointed to the Ferris Wheel, and they climbed on. Jasper was almost to large to fit, but managed it.

Mr. Smiley started the ride and they went up and up, and he stopped it when they were at the top.

"Jasper, sundown in human terms is not when the sun is completely gone from the sky." She said between fits of giggles. "I need to teach you how to use a clock." She shook her head, trying to stop the giggles by covering her mouth.

"Oh..." Jasper blushed, running her hand through her hair nervously. "I'm sorry Lapis."

The sky lit up just then, and they watched in awe as the fireworks danced across the sky, sending prisms of color shooting down like falling stars. The initial bang of the rockets scared Lapis, and she grabbed Jasper's hand tightly. Jasper squeezed it in response, which comforted her. She leaned her head against Jasper's bicep, and the ride started again. After a couple rotations it stopped, and they disembarked. Connie and Steven got off next, and were chatting happily among themselves.

"You know, this was very fun. Thanks Steven."

"You're welcome Lapis!" he shouted happily.

When they laid down that night, Jasper tucked them in and they stared at the ceiling together. They didn't need to say any words at that point, they were both thinking of the dancing fire they saw shooting across the night sky.


	17. Chapter 17

JASPER

Jasper was out walking around today, thinking about her change of lifestyle she'd gone through. She also found herself constantly thinking about Lapis, which was hard _not_ to do, because of how 'damn cute' she was.

Meeting Lapis had drastically changed her life. Never in a million years would the old Jasper be caught dead helping or even _living_ with the Crystal Gems. Old Jasper wasn't completely gone, but she was finding that her anger and rage were a little more manageable.

A few days ago, Jasper had spent a whole evening searching for signs of Peridot, but discovered nothing. It was quite possible that she just hadn't found them yet, even though the whole situation was very odd. If Peridot had survived the crash, why hadn't she come to find her yet? Did she contact Yellow Diamond?

She sat against a cliff wall, that had hundreds of holes drilled into it. She held her hands up to her face and stared at them. The bones in her hand had healed nicely, thanks to her regenerative properties.

Jasper's gem started to glow a little, and she covered it with her hand. She looked back towards the house, and saw Lapis running towards her.

"Come on gem! Do you always have to give me away?"

"Jasper!" Lapis called, waving at her. She waved back, standing up to greet her.

"Hey Lapis, how was your day?"

"Great! Check it out!" Lapis handed Jasper a photo. It was of the two of them, with a turquoise colored sky in the background. They had the ocean to their backs. Jasper looked at it, and became embarrassed, it was like looking at herself in a mirror.

"What is it...?" she asked.

"It's a photo! Steven took it with his phone, the little machine that lets him talk to people from very far away. I have one as well, you can keep that one."

"Oh, thanks... Lapis." She carefully slid the photo into her pants pocket. Lapis turned, but Jasper grabbed her arm. "Lapis, listen... It's been great here and all, but I think its time to move on."

"You want to leave? Where would we go, Jasper? Peridot is still out there, and she's probably contacted Yellow Diamond. The Crystal Gems are going to need us, they all need us!"

"I'm not worried about that right now. Lapis, I'm worried about all of this." She made a hand motion towards the city. "We are not humans Lapis, we are Gems. We're above this, and we should act like it."

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden? You're acting extremely irritable over nothing." Lapis reached out to touch her.

Jasper smacked her hand away.

"Don't touch me." She growled.

"Just talk to me, what's wrong with you?"

Jasper's gem glowed again, and a sharp pain shot through her temples, making her head throb like it wanted to explode.

"What's going on?" The Crystal Gems called, running out to meet them at the cliff.

Jasper summoned her Crash Helmet and charged at the Gems, meeting Garnet's gauntlets head on. Garnet didn't hesitate to slam her back against the rocky cliff.

"Get a hold of yourself, or I will be forced to take action against you!" Garnet demanded, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

"Garnet, do you think?" Pearl asked, pointing her sword at Jasper.

"Something's not right. I can't see the cause of this anger."

Jasper couldn't explain it either. She hadn't even thought about leaving this place, until her gem had glowed. She had been perfectly fine, then suddenly was filled with all the rage and hate she had been holding back. Was someone manipulating her somehow? With the right Gem magic, it wasn't completely out of the question. It wasn't as if these feelings were unusual though, there were a lot of hurtful things she had kept inside since they started staying with the Crystal Gems.

She bent over and clutched her head in agony. She saw a look of terror stretch across Lapis' face, then turn into a cold wall of pain.

 _Lapis..._

Lapis summoned a hand of water and directed it at Jasper. It picked her up and brought her close, so Lapis could look her in the eye. Jasper gnashed her teeth together, fighting the urge to try and beat Lapis into the dirt.

"I don't know what your problem is, but you can't stay here if you're going to put my friend in danger! Thank about what you want Jasper. And just know, that I love you." Lapis pulled the arm back, and threw Jasper as hard as she could.

"Ah!"

Jasper landed in a corn field miles away from Beach City. She skidded across the ground and sliced her arm open on some buried farm equipment. The pain shot down her fingers, temporarily relieving her of her massive migraine. She groaned, and forced herself to get up, and trudge back towards the city.

Walking through cornfields was very confusing, and very scratchy. Jasper heard some kind of animal howl in the distance, it could probably smell the blood trickling down from her wound. She came to what she at first thought was the end of the cornfield, but instead was just an opening in the field.

She walked out to the middle of the area, and noticed a crater in the ground. There was nothing inside it except some mashed up rocks and lots of dirt. Steven had mentioned that they had found Peridot's escape pod in a cornfield, and this must have been the location. She saw the pod a few feet away, split in half and completely unusable. She heard a branch break behind her, and spun around, grabbing what was behind her and slamming in into the dirt.

"Well, well, well. Look who's back. Guess my little trick worked."

"Peridot?" Jasper was completely shocked.

"I knew Lapis cared more about her friends than she did you." Peridot pushed Jasper off her and stood up. She brushed the dirt off her and then put her hands on her hips. "Jasper, what the hell has gotten into you?"

"What do you care, you're the one who bailed on me back on the ship!"

Peridot pushed Jasper against the ground, with her foot. She was a lot stronger than Jasper remembered. "May I remind you of your gem sworn loyalty to Yellow Diamond! Stop living a lie, like humans, and come back to your senses. I _will_ reactivate the kindergarten, and you're not going to stop me. One way or another, it will get done!"

"Peridot, why don't you just forget about Yellow Diamond?" Jasper pushed Peridot's foot off her and sat up. She glared at the green Gem, who was giving her a cold, emotionless look.

"What. Happened. To. You." She said through clenched teeth. "Where's your undying resolve to your duty as a Gem warrior?"

"Why don't we talk about what's really bothering you, Peridot, and that's the fact that I wouldn't have you after you ripped my heart out and stomped on it, and threw it in my face!" Jasper stood, walking towards Peridot, who backed up into the broken escape pod. Jasper leaned in, and put one hand on either side of the green Gem, trapping her.

Peridot's face flushed. She tried to look away, but Jasper forced her to keep eye contact. She remained silent and speechless. The memories of that night, the one's Jasper had had bottled up for so long, were bubbling up inside of her. She was holding back the urge to rip Peridot in half, and the urge to just break down and cry.

"Did you even care about me at all?" She mumbled, leaning closer to the green Gem.

Peridot touched Jasper's face, and they stared at each other for a long time.

Peridot sighed.

"Yes, I do care about you. I loved you so much, that when Yellow Diamond told me to end the relationship, or to destroy you, I chose the most obvious path. There's no way I would have killed you." She ran her fingers down Jasper's neck, and felt along the thick cord of the necklace that Lapis had given to her.

Jasper didn't know what to think. Was she trying to manipulate her, or was that all true? If so, what would she do? Her heart was racing at 1000 beats a minute, and she was feeling nauseous.

"That doesn't explain why you left me for that pretty red bitch..."

"Jasper, I still love you." Peridot fingered the pendant of the necklace.

Jasper was about to back off, this was too much for her, but Peridot reached up and kissed her on the lips. Their gems glowed, but Jasper pushed away from her violently and crouched down, covering her gem.

"What have you done!?" She hissed.

Peridot folded her arms and circled around her.

"That proves it. You still have feelings for me as well. Gems can only fuse from intimacy if they have deep affection for one another." She crouched down and put her hands on Jasper's shoulders. Come back to me. We'll defeat the Crystal Gems, and start the Kindergarten. Then, we'll go home."

"I can't!" Jasper punched the ground, causing blood to spurt from her wound. She clasped her free hand over it, putting pressure on it. "The time we could have had is long since past. I _don't_ love you Peridot. My gem glowed, because when you kissed me, I turned all my thoughts to _her_."

"What!? Who? Lapis Lazuli, that weak blue brat that we kept prisoner?" Peridot asked furiously.

"That weak blue Gem, is a lot stronger than you, Peridot." Lapis came out of the cornfield, and held her hand out to Jasper, helping her stand.

"Lapis, please, forgive me." Jasper whispered.

"Of course I forgive you. Now, lets show Peridot our true strength."

Peridot turned and ran.

Jasper and Lapis fused, and Malachite quickly caught up to the fleeing Gem. She picked Peridot up, who attempted to struggle, but they held her tightly. Malachite focused energy into Lapis' gem, and summoned four large wings of water. She took off, flying over the fields and the city. She landed on the beach.

"Being fused, I know that you wanted answers, and I know that she was the one who kissed you. I'm not going to sit here and fret about it, because I'm not like that. I have to admit, it is a little odd, her having these strong feelings for you, but I understand. Thank you. I love you." Malachite said to herself, a huge smile creeping across her face.


	18. Chapter 18

LAPIS

Lapis cringed slightly when Jasper threw Peridot on the ground in front of the Gems in Steven's room. She went in for a punch, but Lapis grabbed her arm and pulled Jasper back to a corner of the house.

"Hey, hey..." Lapis soothed Jasper, making her think of something other than the Gem that betrayed her being in the house.

Garnet walked over to the two of them, her presence just demanding their attention.

"I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is, we have created a room for the two of you in the temple." Garnet pointed to the temple door, and Jasper and Lapis saw the addition of a circle on the star. It looked just like the pendant Lapis had given Jasper. "You must both be present to open the common, shared space. Jasper, if you open the door, inside is a place you can smash things when you're angry. Lapis, we gave you a room of water for your own personal use."

"That _is_ good news!" Lapis replied excitedly.

"What's the bad news?" Jasper asked, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"We are not going to bubble Peridot. Steven thinks that if we work together, we can sway her to join us."

"Peridot is loyal to Yellow diamond. She would be better off bubbled, or destroyed." Jasper huffed.

Lapis caught a glimpse of Peridot's face, who could blatantly hear everything being said. Peridot looked extremely sad.

"Let's try it." Lapis walked over to Peridot and held her hand out to her. Peridot hesitated, but took her hand and stood up.

"You've got to be kidding me... Excuse me..." Jasper stormed off towards the temple door. Her gem glowed, and the door opened. She entered it, and the door quickly closed behind her.

"You're too nice you know. Jasper will realize someday that all this sweetness is toxic to her, and she'll leave you." Peridot hissed.

Lapis laughed.

"Right, and she'll just come back to you? I don't think so."

"Stop it you two." Garnet said, stepping between them. She summoned an odd device from her gems and snapped it around Peridot's arm. "This device prevents you from using the warp, and prevents you from leaving our area of the beach and house. Don't even try to EMP it, I already planned for that."

Jasper's door opened, and she poked her head out. "Yo Garnet!"

"Yeah?"

"Fight me!" She exclaimed. Her eyes were wild and menacing, meaning that smashing rocks wasn't helping her at all.

"Fine." Garnet disappeared into Jasper's room.

Lapis waited for Jasper for hours before she came out of the room. They lit up their gems and entered the room they were going to share together.

"Wow...!" Jasper gawked, analyzing the room. Lapis followed her gaze, and was thoroughly impressed.

The ceiling resembled the cave back on the island with the geodes. Swirls of lapis lazuli and red jasper sparkled and danced across the ceiling. Against the far wall were large malachite crystals protruding up from the floor. Lapis thought it was simply divine, but she was sure that Jasper was thinking it was super cheesy. She looked at her face and giggled.

Jasper was looking at the scene with a star-struck expression on her face. Lapis saw her walk up to the malachite and kneel down in front of it. She traced the bands in the stone with her fingers.

"Jasper, there's hand controls over here." In the corners of the room on either side, were hand shaped pedestals with pictures of their gems on it.

Lapis touched hers, and her gem glowed. A kitchen, large couch, and a fireplace appeared, because that's what she as thinking about. Jasper touched hers, and a bed, some work out equipment, and a dining table appeared.

"It's so... human." Jasper stated simply.

"I think it's nice. Now we don't have to share a room with Steven." The room changed, resembling the geode island.

"Stop playing with it." Jasper pulled Lapis from the pedestal. She had a concerned look on her face.

"Jasper, now what's wrong?" Lapis asked, putting her hands on Jasper's forearms.

Jasper met Lapis' gaze, and Lapis had a feeling of sadness envelope her. Jasper embraced Lapis suddenly, surprising her. She squeezed her so hard, she felt all the air escape her lungs. It was very uncomfortable.

"Jasper... Can't... Breath.." Lapis wheezed.

Jasper released her and sat on her bed, covering her face with both hands. Lapis was confused. She had no idea what to do. She tapped her foot and looked around anxiously.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Jasper put her hands down, and took a deep breath.

"It's nothing. I'm fine."

"You're not acting fine. I don't know what's wrong with you now. You can talk to me though." Lapis shifted her weight to her other foot, and put her hands on her hips.

Jasper bit her bottom lip and beckoned Lapis to come to her. Lapis obliged, and sat on the larger Gem's lap. Jasper leaned into her and kissed her. Lapis's heart skipped, Jasper's lips were so soft, and so gentle against hers. Jasper wasn't stopping there. She kissed Lapis' cheek, and trailed her lips down to her neck, and lingered there.

Lapis felt her face burning, she was embarrassed, but at the same time, Jasper's kisses felt nice. She decided not to say anything, and Jasper kissed on her neck gently.

Jasper laid Lapis on the bed and hovered over her. The two locked gazes, and they both blushed. Jasper started to lean back, but Lapis swung her arms around her hastily and brought her face down to her chest. Jasper snuggled into her, and listened to her heart beat.

Lapis breathed deeply, trying to hide her anticipation about what could happen next. She wasn't sure if she would be ready. Jasper seemed to sense her conflict, running her gem down to the bare skin of Lapis' stomach, and planting a kiss on it.

She shivered, sucking in her breath sharply. Jasper's teeth grazed against her flesh, and her hands gripped her hips tightly.

"Jasper..." She whispered. Jasper moved her face up to be level with hers. She saw that Jasper's cheeks were red, and her eyes were fierce. There was a fire burning in her eyes, and made Lapis melt. She was speechless. She placed her hand over Jasper's heart, and felt it beating in sync with hers. Jasper nuzzled her arm, and kissed the tips of her fingers.

Lapis bit her bottom lip, before her lips became melded into Jasper's, and she was left wondering what the other could be thinking.

 **I'm sure you can imagine what happened next...**


	19. Chapter 19

JASPER

Jasper snapped awake, sending herself flying off the bed onto the cold floor. Lapis sat up, barely covered by a thin sheet.

"Are you okay?" Lapis asked, holding her hand out to help Jasper stand.

Jasper stretched, and gave Lapis a flirtatious smile. Truth was, she had never felt so elated, not in thousands of years. She noticed Lapis gaping at her, so she pounced on the bed and snuggled with the Ocean Gem.

"I've never felt better!"

"Jasper, you're squishing me!" Lapis wheezed, pushing back against her a little. Jasper released her grip and gazed at Lapis shamelessly. Lapis leaned in and kissed Jasper's gem, sending an electric shock down her body.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

They both sat straight up and panicked. Jasper threw on her shirt, and looked feverishly around for her pants. She found them hanging on the couch, and slipped them on. She threw a blanket on over Lapis, who was still too stunned to move. She opened the door and came face to face with Steven and Amethyst.

"Hey Jasper!" Amethyst grinned, and ran into the room.

"May I come in?" Steven asked, smiling widely.

"Um..."

"Thanks!"

Jasper turned around and watched in horror as the two Gems wandered around their room.

"Can I help you?" Jasper asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, blocking Lapis from their view.

"We just wanted to see if you and Lapis were interested in hanging out." Steven plopped down on the couch and stared at Jasper.

"Yeah, Garnet and Pearl went on a mission, and Steven and I are so bored!" Amethyst added, hanging upside down from one of the larger malachite rocks.

"Hang out? Uh... I think we're good." Jasper said, but was nudged in the side by Lapis.

"Wait, where's Lapis?" Steven asked, hopping off the couch and running towards the bed.

"Wait!" Jasper couldn't stop Steven from pulling the blankets off the bed.

"Oh, you found me!" Lapis, who was fully dressed, chuckled, and poked Steven in the cheek. Jasper breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know what she would have done if Steven would have seen Lapis nude.

"Thing is, we would actually be very happy to hang out with you two today." Lapis stated before sliding off the bed and heading towards the door.

"Three." Amethyst said, also going towards the door.

"Three?"

The door opened, and Peridot was standing there, staring impatiently at the door.

"No way, not on your..." Jasper backed away a few steps, but Lapis took her hand, and grabbed Peridot's hand.

"I'm so sick of this drama, I don't care about what happened in the past. Get. Over. It." Lapis gritted her teeth and pulled them outside.

Jasper had never seen Lapis so determined, so she kept her mouth shut and followed her out into the bright sun. Outside were several of Beach City's inhabitants, including the human girl named Sadie.

"Steven, why are all these humans here?" Jasper asked, blocking the sun with one of her hands.

"Is this that thing you were telling me about? A..." Lapis bit her lip, trying to think. "A beach party?"

"Yeah! For my Beach Summer Fun Buddy!" Steven exclaimed, before running out to greet his guests.

"Ugh..." Jasper whined. "Why is it so hot outside today..."

"Because you don't dress like that when you live on a beach." Amethyst laughed, and changed into her beach attire of shorts and a tank top, with her hair in a high ponytail. Lapis looked around, and then changed her own attire into a strapless blue bikini, and a beach skirt that was slightly transparent with a hint of purple.

Jasper blushed, Lapis was practically naked. She thought for a minute about what she could change into. She gave herself a swim top reminiscent of her old jumpsuit, even with the yellow diamond on it. It showed off her perfectly sculpted abs. Her bottoms were short spandex shorts, and she had dark sunglasses on to protect her eyes.

She followed Lapis, who sat her outside the volleyball area, and ran her fingers through her hair. She pulled out a couple old clumps of goo, and groaned.

"Don't you ever wash your hair?" Lapis asked, summoning a hair brush from her Gem.

"What are you doing?" Jasper asked, trying not to notice all the stares of the humans hanging out on the beach.

"You can't keep your hair long if you're not going to take care of it." Lapis simply stated before running the brush through Jasper's mane.

Jasper grumbled to herself and closed her eyes. She didn't like being nagged, but she enjoyed the feeling of her hair being brushed. It was strangely relaxing, usually she would just run the brush through as fast as possible so as not to waste time. When Lapis was done, her hair was in a long neat braid. She felt it and whined.

"Oh stop it, I think it's nice." Lapis sat in her lap and they watched the humans start a game of volleyball.

Peridot sat down near them, and Steven set up an umbrella for her. She remained silent, which was just fine with Jasper.

"Hey look! Garnet's back, Garnet's back!" Steven jumped for joy at the sight of the fusion Gem's return.

Jasper watched Garnet approach them. She still felt a tinge of anger towards Garnet for making her feel like a fool back on Peridot's ship. She also liked to spar Garnet when she was unable to calm down by smashing rocks in her room, but still had yet to beat her at anything. Garnet sensed her turmoil, and walked right over to Jasper and Lapis.

"Hey." She said, changing into her beach outfit.

"Hi Garnet." Lapis waved, smiling at her.

"Sup." Jasper said, leaning back onto her elbows.

"How about you and Lapis join Pearl and I in a game of volleyball."

"What? That lame human game we have been watching? No thanks, I'd rather my gem be destroyed in a vat of lava." Jasper stuck her tongue out and turned her face.

"Jasper!" Lapis chided, standing up. "I'll play. Maybe Jasper doesn't want to play because she knows that you'd totally kick our butts even if she tried."

Jasper blushed, and jumped up angrily. "What, you think you can beat me? I-I'll show you!" She gritted her teeth, picked up a volleyball and stomped over towards the net. The humans who were playing stopped, and left the field to sit on the sidelines. Lapis joined her side, and Garnet and Pearl were on the other. With power and brisk movement, she served the ball, and the game began.

Garnet spiked the ball back over the net, and Jasper dove for it, not letting the ball hit the ground. Lapis set the ball up, and Jasper spiked it back, getting a point when Pearl failed to hit it.

"Hey Jasper, when I win, Lapis will have to find a new mate, because your pride will be so bruised, you'll not show your face for weeks!" Garnet taunted playfully, serving the ball back to Jasper's side.

"Hardy Har. You're such a comedian!" She retorted, bumping the ball to Lapis, who hit it over the net.

Pearl spiked it, and Lapis missed it, the ball slamming into the ground sent sand into Jasper's eyes. She lifted her glasses and put them on top of her head so she could rub her eyes. This volleyball game was stressing her out. Her competitiveness was flaring up, and every mistake was infuriating her. The sun beat down on her, and made her feel dizzy. She served the ball back, and Pearl lobbed it really high in the air.

"Oh no! Watch out!" Amethyst called from the sidelines.

Garnet jumped, and spiked the ball as hard as she could.

Jasper dove out of the way, the ball hit the sand and created a spiky mass of glass. Jasper saw when the dust cleared that Lapis was laying in the sand with several Gems and humans surrounding her. She ran over there, and shoved anyone who got in her way.

"What did you do that for!?" Jasper shouted, causing the humans to step back in fear.

"Calm down Jasper." Garnet said in her usual monotonous voice.

"You want me to calm down?" Jasper puffed out her chest and looked down at the smaller fusion Gem. "You could have killed her!"

Lapis slowly came to, and sat up to watch the two arguing. Jasper didn't even notice, she was too blinded by her rage.

"Look, she's fine, just lay off!" Amethyst had joined Garnet's side, and chimed in. Jasper twisted her face and glared at the purple Gem.

"Jasper, are you o-" Steven made the mistake of running up to Jasper when she was so far gone into her fury. She whipped around and picked the small boy up. She summoned her Crash Helmet. Steven wriggled in her grasp, kicking his feet as hard as he could.

"Steven!" Lapis cried, jumping up.

"JASPER!" A familiar voice broke through her wall of rage. "Listen to me! I know you care about Lapis, but this has got to stop before you kill someone." Peridot screamed, pushing Lapis out of her way.

Jasper loosened her grip, and made eye contact with the green Gem. She also noticed Lapis for the first time, standing next to Peridot, unscathed, and seemingly crushed by her actions.

Peridot sighed. "I've been watching you, and I know that controlling yourself is hard. Please, put the Steven down and walk with me."

Lapis' face was contorted with a look of such hurt, that Jasper saw through her wall of rage. She set Steven down and he ran behind Lapis, looking at her with a look of pure disgust.

"Jasper..."

She took off running down the beach to the other side of the Crystal Gem's base. Peridot caught up to her and followed her until they couldn't go any farther due to Peridot's device. She sat in the sand with a knee up, an arm resting on her knee, facing away from Peridot.

"Wow, you really blew up back there." Peridot stated bluntly, in her nasaly, factual tone. Jasper said nothing. This was literally the worst social situation she could ever be in. The love of her life probably hated her, and her worst enemy was trying to comfort her. She didn't know what she was going to do.

"Pffft. I don't know why I even bother. Your emotions have always been so out of control." Peridot sat next to Jasper and dug her feet into the sand.

Jasper bit her lip, and continued to try to not look at Peridot who was extremely condescending to her. The only reason she didn't run off, was because the lull of her voice was familiar and comforting.

"Peridot I, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm trying so hard to change, but this anger has been with me since the day I was created. I've been conditioned to punch things, and hate things, to follow peoples orders." Jasper put her forehead against her palms and clenched her bangs between her fingers. "You're right, one of these days I'm going to kill someone close to her, then I'll lose her forever."

"Pull yourself together Jasper. It's pathetic, all these excuses you're making. It's not like you at all. What happened to the fearsome Gem that stood proud and strong, with everyone else simply beneath her boot? Just because..." Peridot cleared her throat. "Just because you fell in love, doesn't mean you need to snivel in the dirt trying to be someone you're not." She pulled her visor off of her face, and clenched it.

"What?" Jasper looked at her, putting her arms in her lap.

Peridot stared directly at her. "I said, stop acting like a fool. Don't you think that Lapis would love you for you? If she doesn't, I"ll be there to kick her scrawny blue ass." She enunciated, snapping her visor in half.

Jasper was quiet, until a burst of throaty laughter expelled from her gut. Peridot had a point, but coming from her made it sound so hilarious. Peridot blushed, and tossed her broken visor into the sand.

"It's funny how you could always cheer me up, Peridot." She placed a firm hand on Peridot's shoulder and stood up, wiping the sand off her butt. Lapis and Steven came around the cliff, and stopped several feet in front of her.

"Steven." She breathed. "Come here." Jasper beckoned to the boy. He looked at Lapis, who made eye contact with Jasper and nodded.

"I'm sorry Steven. Sometimes I can't control my anger, or my reaction." She said to him as they walked along the beach together. "It might be hard for you to understand, but it's who I am." She stopped and smiled, and knelt down in front of him.

"You were worried about Lapis. Garnet shouldn't have done something so dangerous." Steven said, watching Jasper carefully. She could see the fear still lingering in his eyes.

"I accept myself for who I am, but I _will_ try to punch a rock, or a pillow instead of your face, alright?"

Steven laughed at that, and reached a hand out to touch Jasper's cheek. She felt a warmth emanate from his touch, and it soothed her.

"Okay." He poked her gem with his finger and ran off before she could say anything else.

"Thank you for apologizing to him. He really thought you were going to break his face again." Lapis hooked her arm around Jasper's, and they walked down the beach together, back towards the house.

"What about Garnet?"

"Garnet understands more about anger and hatred than you realize. She said to let you cool off, and that you would be approachable after a while."

"Bah. What does she know, she lives secluded in her own little fusion world."

Lapis didn't respond to her. Instead she just tucked her hair behind her ear and continued forward.

"Wait, that's the thing you do! What are you thinking about?" Jasper asked, tucking the other strand of Lapis' hair behind her ear.

Lapis blushed, and sped off ahead of her, leaving her behind. Jasper stopped and scratched her head, too lazy to run after her.

"What did I say?"

Peridot snickered over by the same spot she was earlier. Jasper looked at her, then at herself, then at her again.

"What?"

"She was looking at your ass!" Peridot bent over in a fit of giggles. Jasper's face flushed redder than the strawberries she like to eat.


	20. Chapter 20

LAPIS

Lapis had chosen not to sleep for the last week, because Pearl had been trying to teach her how to cook. The problem was, that Pearl was trying to be scientific, and Lapis just wanted to learn how to bake a simple strawberry cake. Pearl's nagging had given her a headache, so she took a break and dove into her room.

The water caressed her, and she sunk into the depths to relax. Water was such a fluid, calming element, bending around her body with precise motion.

After some time, she left her room and entered a nightmare. Jasper and Peridot had set up a large flat screen TV, and hooked up the latest version of some violent fighting game that was recently released. She personally didn't care for video games, but Jasper and Peridot got so into it, they would end up playing for days again. She also felt skeptical towards this seemingly rekindled friendship between the two, and often felt out of place. Peridot's arm band had been released, because she just wasn't doing _anything_.

"Are you fucking shitting me?" Peridot cursed, squeezing the controller tightly in her hands.

"You can't handle the J-Squad!" Amethyst laughed, giving Jasper a high five.

"Language!" Pearl and Lapis screeched at them in unison.

"I have been playing this game non-stop since the Steven brought it home, for a week. I have the best score, and I'm a top-tier online player! Then you!" Peridot pointed a finger at Jasper. "You come back from your stupid jog, sit your beefy ass down, take this tiny controller in your big gropey hands, punch a couple random buttons and beat me! Agh!"

"Peridot chill out, it's just a game. Of course you would get so into it. Usually you're just glued to that finger monitor of yours." Jasper chuckled.

Lapis couldn't help but giggle at the green Gem's frustration over a video game. She turned back to the kitchen, and stared at the horrible mess she had made. She took a washcloth from the sink and started to wipe the appliances down. Pearl entered the kitchen and helped her, she didn't mind the extra hands. Trying to make a cake had turned the kitchen into a floury war zone.

"Ah, cleaning just clears the mind, don't you agree, Lapis?" Pearl practically started singing as she swept away the flour that was all over the floor.

"Eh... Sure..."

"Get wrecked! You think you can beat me? Yeah, nice jokes... Muahahaha!" Peridot screamed, making Lapis jump. She turned to see that they were in a heated battle. Jasper's smile was very toothy, and her eyes were widened in concentration.

"I don't even know what you're talking about." Jasper replied.

"Ugh, so barbaric! Steven, if I ever hear you speak those words! You'll be grounded from video games forever!" Pearl left the kitchen and went to the temple door. Her gem glowed, and she entered her room.

"No!" Jasper feigned disappointment when Peridot won the fight. Instead of getting mad, Lapis saw her stand and turn the gaming system off. That was unusual.

"Hey..." Peridot gawked at Jasper.

Lapis made eye contact with Peridot, and stuck her tongue out at her. She didn't know what came over her. She was just so jealous of her, a Homeworld Gem, that could relate so well to the orange Gem. She couldn't decide if she wanted to accept her, or continue to dislike her. She was trying not to let her guard down.

"I'm bored!" Steven groaned, smooshing his face against Lapis' arm.

"Well..." Lapis thought about something they could do, but was drawing a blank.

"I can take us to the arcade!" Steven suggested.

"No way. Those games are for filthy casuals." Peridot mumbled.

"Garnet?" Steven asked, waving his hand in front of the fusion Gem's eyes. "What do you think we should do today?"

"There's a Gem beast in the strawberry fields, or we could go to the mountains, the ocean, the volcano or..."

"Or we could die of boredom. You clods can sit here and list off things we _could_ do, or you could just hop on the warp pad and let it decide."

Pearl stuck her head out of the temple door just then. "Garnet! Amethyst! I swear I just saw the slinker!"

"Ah!" The two Crystal Gems raced into Pearl's room, leaving the Homeworld Gems alone with Steven.

"I'm just gonna go see what Lars is up to..." Steven high-fived Jasper, and ran out the front door.

"Well, are you clods coming, or not?" Peridot stood on the warp, and called the stream. Lapis and Jasper jumped into the warp, and Lapis nearly fell out of the stream. Peridot grabbed her skirt and pulled her back.

"Thanks." Lapis brushed herself off, and folded her arms.

"Where are we going, Peridot?" Jasper inquired.

"You'll see." Lapis' feet touched the surface of the warp. Her eyes grew large, and her heart tried to thump out of her chest. She fell backwards, and fainted.

JASPER

"Are you psychotic!?" Jasper bellowed, catching Lapis in her arms. "I told you that coming here was strictly forbidden, yet here we are."

"Excuse me, your majesty, but I can't control the fact that your little girlfriend can't handle the sight of a place like this!" Peridot jumped off the warp. Jasper growled, but followed her.

"She was a slave at a kindergarten for 1,000 years, I think I'd be afraid of this place too."

"Pbbbt... You're not afraid of anything." Peridot mumbled.

She followed Peridot, gazing at the large machines and holed out walls in the cliffs. Even she didn't know exactly how energy was used to make other Gems. She was never interested in that sort of thing.

She couldn't figure out why, in all of Earth, they were at the Kindergarten? Unless of course Peridot had somehow been in contact with Yellow Diamond, and was carrying out some of her orders.

Even though Peridot and her had spent a little more time together this past week, she still kept her guard up. She didn't pour her soul out more than necessary, and she wanted to see what she was up to.

Peridot opened her finger monitor, and did some swiping on it. A mini-map appeared on it, with a defined path that led them around several giant Kindergarten machines. She stopped in front of one, and knocked on it.

"Broken, just like the rest of them."

"Of course they're broken, Rose wouldn't have let these just sit here with the possibility of starting up again." Jasper kicked one, and it creaked, tipping over and smashing against the ground. Red fluid from it seeped into the ground.

"You're such a brute!" Peridot grimaced, tapping her screen. A hole in the ground opened up, and Peridot jumped in, sliding down the slanted walls. Jasper slid down after her, holding Lapis close to her, so as not to hurt her on the way down.

Her feet hit the ground and she sauntered towards Peridot, who was standing in the middle of a strange, greenish control room. The gem power source was destroyed, and Peridot seemed like she was looking for something.

"I remember this place from your report." Jasper said, setting Lapis down on the floor, with her back against the wall. "Isn't this the Kindergarten control room that the Crystal Gems destroyed?"

"Yes," Peridot nodded, "this is where I met the Steven, and was foiled by those.. Crystal Clods." She put her hand on the pedestal, but nothing happened.

Jasper had a bad feeling. She put herself between Peridot and the pedestal and crossed her arms.

"Why are we here Peridot?" She demanded of her.

"I can't say." Peridot closed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"You better tell me, or I'll-"

"You'll what? Destroy my gem? Beat my face in? No, you won't. I'm the only connection you have to Homeworld, and if you lose that connection, you'll truly be stuck on this planet forever. Now, move aside."

Jasper glared down at the green Gem. Since when did Peridot think she could just talk to her that way. She was a fool and had let her guard down after all. She stood her ground, and sat on the pedestal.

"I'm not that attached to Homeworld. Also, you can kiss my ass, and tell me what the _hell_ we're doing down here, in this broken down kindergarten control room."

Peridot's face twisted into a look of deep shock. She must have seriously thought that she had a hold over Jasper about Homeworld. She cleared her throat, scanned the area, saw Lapis was still out cold, and sighed.

"I don't know why I put up with this." Peridot grumbled. "Shut up and listen to me, Jasper. Yellow Diamond is furious. You disobeyed direct orders, stopped her from destroying or controlling Lapis Lazuli, _and_ you've been helping the Crystal Gems." She started tapping her foot against the ground. "She's coming for you. For her." She pointed to Lapis. "For this planet. She has many stops to make before she gets here, so it could take weeks."

Jasper couldn't swallow. Her mouth had gone dry.

"I was supposed to try and fix this place, to start it up again."

Jasper raised an eyebrow at this statement, keeping her eyes locked onto Peridot's face. She saw the struggle on her lime features. Peridot was trying to hard to keep a neutral expression on her face.

"But?" She asked.

Peridot didn't answer. She walked past Jasper, towards the wall behind her. She opened an interface in the wall, which she fed energy from her own screen into it. A door opened revealing a hidden room.

"The Crystal Gems didn't know about the secondary power supply, with manual activation clearance required by me." Peridot walked into the room and stared at the crystal inside.

"Peridot!" Jasper yelled, standing in the doorway. "Don't do what I think you're going to do!"

"Don't try to stop me, Jasper. This whole save-the-world act doesn't suit you."

Jasper slammed her fist into the wall. "You're right, it doesn't. But as long as Lapis is on this planet, I can't let you hurt it. Could you really destroy this world by your own hands? Billions of voices screaming through your head? That's not your thing either. I thought you wanted to help Gem Society with your machines!"

"That dream is long gone Jasper, it died when yellow Diamond recruited me into the military."

"You promised me that joining the military wouldn't change you. You were going to help Gems."

"What about you?"

"Pfft. I've always been an asshole."

"True..."

Peridot grabbed her head and closed her eyes.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Peridot stepped away from the crystal. "Do that... smashing thing you do..." She left the room, back to the main one.

"With pleasure." She slammed her fist into the crystal, shattering it into tiny pieces.

Jasper cracked her knuckles as she left the room, seeing that Lapis had finally came to. She waved at her, and received a smile in return. God how she loved it when that Gem smiled...

Peridot looked at Lapis, and stomped past her, with her nose turned.

"What's her problem?" She asked Jasper, walking next to her.

"Give it some time. She'll come around. We're all _she_ has left now."

Jasper gave Lapis a quick summary of what she missed, on their way back to the warp. Lapis tucked her hair behind her ear, and grabbed Jasper's arm. Peridot warped back to the base.

"Yes?" She looked at the ocean Gem.

"It seems... fishy. Why would Peridot all of a sudden change her mind? It doesn't make sense to me." Lapis' voice was laced with worry.

"She gave us some valuable information Lapis, I really don't think she's lying. She let me destroy the secondary power source to the kindergarten!"

"Just... watch yourself Jasper. She's burned you before. She could be planning something." Lapis landed gracefully on the warp, and warped away.

Jasper sat on the rock the warp was on, and stared at her hands. She didn't tell Lapis about how terrified she felt. If Yellow Diamond really was coming, they were in for the fight of their lives.

 **Author's Note: Well, this is as far as I've gotten in my notebook! Yes, I still plan on continuing as long as I can keep coming up with ideas and scenes I want to incorporate into this story. I may not update as much as I have been, but I am determined not to be one of those people who don't update for weeks on end. Also, thank you to all who have taken the time to comment on my story, it means a lot to me that you like it, I know I enjoy it. Feel free to comment ideas you want to see as well, maybe it will jump start an idea into this thick skull of mine!**

 **Also, thanks Little Red Dove, your comments make me glad I sucked it up and put this story up on the interwebs!**


	21. Chapter 21

LAPIS

"Do you really have to leave? Garnet's strong enough to move those kindergarten machines on her own. " Lapis whined to Jasper.

"Yes, we want to be sure that none of them can be activated. Besides, I don't blame her for wanting some of this muscle with her." Jasper flexed her arms, and kissed her bicep, giving Lapis a goofy grin.

"Put those away before you hurt someone!" Lapis joked.

"Alright, I'm out." Jasper gave Lapis a quick hug and hopped on the warp pad. I'll be back before you know it." She warped away.

Lapis sighed, twisting the fabric of her top tightly. She had no problem with Jasper going out to lift heavy objects, but why was she stuck going on a mission with Peridot? They were told that they needed to venture out into the ocean to collect a gem, that Garnet promised wasn't going to be hard to obtain. If she didn't collect the gem, Garnet swore to her that something terrible was going to happen.

She ventured out into the living room, where Peridot sat on the floor among 10 small flask robonoids. She agreed to sharing information about Yellow Diamond as long as she were allowed to have these robots, that the Crystal Gems had saved. Peridot had used an Electro Magnetic Pulse on them, so she was currently trying to fix their circuitry so she could bring them on the mission.

"Ugh!" Peridot threw the robot against the ground, and it rolled into Lapis' feet. She bent over and picked it up.

"Not going so well, I see." She handed the small marble robot to Peridot.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. I still don't see why I have to collect gems for your Crystal friends, I am not a warrior, and it just seems like a waste of my time." Peridot pushed her robots into a pile, and stood up.

"Well, you're the one who is deciding to stick around, for one reason or another. I don't know why you have to complain so much, it's not like you're taking this as an opportunity to make a run for it." Lapis retorted, knocking her shoulder into the green Gem as she walked past her.

Peridot didn't reply, and Lapis was happy she didn't. She just wanted to get through this job, and then lock herself in her water room until Jasper returned.

The two of them ambled to the beach, walking straight into the cold, dark oceans embrace. Lapis couldn't put into words how beautiful and serene the ocean was to her. She smiled at all the fish swimming past her, and she laughed when Peridot became tangled in some slimy seaweed.

She followed the predetermined path Garnet had explained to her that morning, taking care to keep to the left of a giant, ancient Gem sword lying under the water.

"How much of this stuff is on this planet?" Peridot asked, stepping over a mucky spot in the sand.

"71 percent of this whole planet is covered by the ocean." Lapis answered, running her hand against a broken gem sculpture.

"71 percent! That's insane. I can't imagine being inhibited to staying on 29 percent of the planet. Earth is so... gross."

Lapis just shook her head, continuing on her merry way. She passed under a naturally formed arch, and a cold chill passed through her spine. They had entered a magical space through the arch.

She saw the gem sitting on an algae covered boulder. She looked around nervously, expecting something to happen.

"What are you waiting for, just take it and we can go back." Peridot trotted right up to the rock.

"No, wait, there could be a trap!" Too late.

Peridot picked the gem up, and the boulder cracked. The ground shook below them; the earth beneath their feet split wide open. Lapis grabbed Peridot around the waist and hoisted her towards the surface. She swam directly into a magical barrier, preventing her from going any farther. The only way out would be back towards the arch. She turned, trying to get to it. A shadow passed over her, and a large Eel Monster passed overhead, swimming figure eights in front of the arch. She dove into the trench that was created, and let go of Peridot. She couldn't hold her any longer.

"Way to go." Was all she could say to the green Gem.

Peridot blushed. "I didn't ask to come on this stupid mission, so don't get all condescending towards me." She crossed her arms, speaking loudly.

"Shh!" Lapis covered Peridot's mouth. The Eel swam over them, and Lapis was terrified that it would find them.

It was unfortunate that they were practically stuck super close to each other. If it weren't for the annoying companion Lapis had with her, she really could have been home attempting to bake another cake, or reading, or just staring out the window. If she couldn't get out of this mess, she was sure that Jasper would have a heart attack and die.

They sat in silence; awkward, extreme silence. Lapis was next to Peridot, and kept her focus to the ocean space above her, watching for the Eel Monster. Peridot fidgeted with her fingers, remaining quiet.

"I never got to thank you properly for talking Jasper out of her fit of rage at the volleyball game." Lapis muttered, not really sure what to say at this point.

Peridot observed her, her mouth seemed to stay in a permanent frown. Lapis studied her back, regarding her still as a threat to the very fabric of her and Jasper's relationship. What did she see though, hidden under that facade? A deep, impenetrable sadness. Peridot had lost her home, her life, and all she truly had left that was familiar; was her and Jasper. Lapis felt like a bully. Who was she to judge other Gems?

"I just know how to speak to that brute. Her and I were comrades for a few years you know. You have to feed her ego, make her feel like she's in charge, like she's in control. Even if she's not. Jasper wants to be in control of everything, and she looks down at everyone. Figuratively and literally. She's her own master, and a slave to her own desires. I mean, you had to have seen that, once you broke her shell, and she really starts to trust you, she would do anything for you." Peridot responded quietly. "So my question to you..." She paused. "Who's actually in control?"

Lapis was completely stunned. She'd never thought that way before. It was very similar to how Jasper spoke of Peridot. She had said that Peridot knew that she would have sacrificed everything for her. Did Lapis want that though? The thought of losing Jasper in any way was enough to give her an anxiety attack. It really bothered her that Peridot was so blunt, and she was taking it personally. This time, she refused to respond.

"Looks like I struck a nerve."

Lapis clenched her fists. Why were they still sitting here? If she could move the entire ocean, she could handle a stupid eel. She grabbed the gem from Peridot and bubbled it away to the temple. She then hooked her arm around Peridot's waist, much to her dismay, and used her hydrokinesis to propel them out of the trench. The Eel mMonster circled them, diving at them with extreme speed. Lapis' gem glowed, reacting to the anger she felt. She held her palm out in front of her and when the Eel Monster came into contact with her, it disintegrated.

"Whoa..." Peridot's jaw dropped.

"Yeah. You ever think I'm weak again, and I'll show you what I'm really made of." She was feeling very pleased with herself now.

Neither one of the Gems talked to each other the whole way back to Steven's house. Peridot surrounded herself with her robots again, and Lapis found a cookbook to attempt a strawberry cake again. She combined all the ingredients to a bowl carefully, mixing it together quickly.

Lapis poured the batter into a cake pan, and put it in the oven. She kicked a marble robot accidentally when she tried walking to the couch. Peridot didn't even glance in her direction. Lapis carried the robonoid to the couch with her, and sat down to analyze it. She found the circuit board and stared at it. She saw that a yellow wire wasn't attached to the yellow conductor on the board. Common sense told her to just connect them together, so she did.

The little robonoid came to life, squirting goo all over Lapis' face. She jumped up, smiling at herself for fixing the robot.

"Peri, look!" She showed the robot to the green Gem excitedly.

"How did you..." Peridot was speechless. She took the robot into her hands and looked it over. "Eleven. This one wasn't one that I fried when the Galaxy Warp was fixed."

"What? Where did it come from then?" She asked, staring at her.

"I have no idea..."

The little robonoid stuck its legs out and touched Peridot's face. It pulled its legs back into itself and went into sleep mode.

"Awe, it loves you!" Lapis cooed, the little robot was pretty cute looking.

"As if." Peridot kicked the other robots out of her way and sat in the corner by the temple door. Lapis took this as a sign that she wanted to be alone, and she wiped the goo off of her face with her top. The oven started to beep.

She opened the oven and pulled a perfectly baked cake out. She let it cool, then covered it with the same chocolate frosting that the 'Big Donut' used. She carefully placed strawberries around the outer ring of the cake, and then one big strawberry in the center.

The warp pad lit up, and Amethyst returned. She made her way towards Lapis, sniffing at the air.

"What's that, Lapis?" She looked starry-eyed at the cake.

"I made it for Jasper. She likes chocolate, and she likes strawberries. So, I combined them, thinking she'd like that." Lapis explained.

"Ah yes, snacks!" Amethyst didn't listen to her at all, she was too busy drooling over the cake. She reached out to grab the cake, but Lapis took it out of her reach.

"What did I just say? This is for Jasper!" Lapis jumped from Amethyst's grubby hands, and ran around the house.

"Gimme, gimme!" Amethyst laughed, chasing her down.

"No!"

She held the cake above her head, trying to keep away from Amethyst. The cake was suddenly lifted out of her hands. She turned and punched what she thought was Amethyst.

"Amethyst that's- Jasper!" She was looking at Jasper, who was holding the cake high above Amethyst's head. Amethyst tried to climb up the larger Gem, but Jasper was able to keep her at bay with her free hand.

"Ouch, your tiny hands hurt!" Jasper sneered. "Amethyst, you're not going to get this whole cake, but if you want to share it with me, that's a different story!"

"Okay, that's fair." Amethyst stuck her tongue out, and sat at the counter.

Jasper set the cake down, and actually took a second to look at it. Lapis cut a slice for Amethyst, and then cut one for Jasper. She gave her the middle piece, with the big strawberry.

"You went though all that trouble to make this for me?" Jasper had a look of pure delight dance across her face. Her previously hardened features softened. She took a bite, making sure it had all the elements of the cake in it.

Lapis held her breath.

The fork dropped, and Lapis' heart sank.

"You don't like it..." She mumbled.

"Like it? No! Love it? Yes! It's... amazing!" Jasper grabbed clumps of cake and started shoving it in her mouth.

"Jasper, seriously?" Lapis watched her with distaste. She was although, a lot happier that Jasper had actually liked the cake. She had to cover her face from flying bits of cake and frosting.

"What is the source of the Gem magic you used to make this? So good..."

"Gem magic? Jasper, it's called cooking." She laughed.

Jasper grabbed both of Lapis' hands and gazed at her happily.

"I would love it if you would cook more for me."

Lapis blushed. Jasper leaned in for a kiss, but Lapis just smooshed some cake against her face.


	22. Chapter 22

LAPIS

"Do I have to..." Pearl groaned.

"This game of Steven tag is going to be so epic! There's potentially seven Stevens involved! And you're it, Lapis!" Steven tagged Lapis, and she shapeshifted into a very blue colored Steven. Everyone else dispersed, and she ran after Amethyst, who wasn't paying attention.

"Gotcha!"

"Awe man!" Amethyst took off running towards Garnet. She dove and grabbed Garnet's leg, who then changed into Steven. This continued, until Steven was it, and only Jasper hadn't been tagged yet.

"You'll never catch me alive!" She declared, standing on the roof of the house. Steven tagged Lapis, who flew on the roof. "Don't you even dare, Lapis!" Jasper jumped, but not before Lapis jumped onto her back. They landed in the sand together, two really colorful Steven's laughing like children.

"Steven pile! Come on Pearl!" Amethyst jumped on them, and Lapis was soon underneath a large pile of Steven's.

"I am the King of the Steven's!" Steven stood on the pile and declared.

"Okay King of the Stevens, it's time for you to go inside." Garnet changed back to her regular form, and carried Steven inside.

Pearl changed back, and shivered.

"Ah, that's enough of that." She grimaced at the pile, and danced off towards the house. "Come on Amethyst, duty calls!"

"Awe what? I don't want to!" Amethyst whined, meandering up the wooden stairs.

Peridot, Jasper, and Lapis shifted back and returned to the house as well. They caught the butt end of a conversation the Crystal Gems were having.

"-Dad's out of town for a few days, I don't want to go stay with someone. Can't I come with you guys?" Steven was whining.

"Not this time Steven. Where we're going, your body won't be able to handle the atmospheric changes in pressure." Garnet explained to him, putting her hands on her hips.

"You need to be somewhere safe so we don't have to worry about you for a couple days." Pearl seemed to notice the Homeworld Gems standing in the entrance. Lapis was making it quite obvious that she was listening in on their conversation.

"He can hang out with us..." She spoke softly. "I don't mind."

Jasper cracked her neck, and scooped Steven up in her arms. "Yeah, this kid can hang with me, and when you get back, we'll both be super ripped."

Steven looked at her with starry eyes. "Like Sugilite!"

"Ugh..." Pearl moaned. "Not Sugilite..."

"What is this Sugilite?" Jasper questioned, knitting her brows together.

"Oh, it's Garnet and I mashed together!" Amethyst shouted, a little too excited about it.

"Ah, a combination of three runts, how menacing!" Jasper snorted.

Lapis saw Peridot kicking at the ground awkwardly behind everyone. Lapis went to her and nudged her with her elbow.

"What's a matter?" She asked.

"I've never fused before." She stated, tapping her foot against the ground anxiously.

"What!" Jasper, Pearl, Amethyst, and even Garnet were surprised at this statement.

"I'm a technician, not a warrior, I have no reason to fuse!" Peridot stomped away and stood in her corner.

"Yikes. Okay. Let's go." Garnet held Amethyst up by the back of her shirt, and Pearl followed without hesitation. They warped away.

Steven picked up Peridot's marble robot and sat on the floor, leaning his chin on it. Lapis saw that he was watching Peridot curiously. When Peridot didn't give him any attention, he rolled the robot away and sighed.

Lapis didn't know what to do for this poor human. She thought about comforting him, but to her surprise, Jasper beat her to it.

Jasper stood above Steven, towering over him like a giant. She squatted down and poked him in the stomach. He giggled and pushed her hand away.

"So, what do human boys like to do?" Jasper asked him.

"Steven wants to go show you off to everyone in Beach City. Onward!"

Lapis watched Jasper shrug at this suggestion, pick Steven up, and put him on her shoulders. They disappeared out the front door.

Peridot's head perked up. "Finally!" She looked back and forth suspiciously, then bolted upstairs to Steven's room, turning the T.V on. She put some headphones on, and was immediately engrossed in a game.

Lapis rolled her eyes and cleaned up the living room. There was cake and chips everywhere, and someone trekked their mud covered stomping boots across the floor.

"Lapis! I need you!" Peridot hollered down, not taking her eyes off the screen.

Did she just hear her right?

"What?"

"Get up here!" She called again.

Lapis threw the mop in the slot next to the fridge, and went up to Steven's area of the house.

"What now?"

"Take this, shut up, and sit down." Peridot shoved a controller in her hand, and soon she was lost to the world of videogames.

JASPER

"Steven, is this really going to help you?"

"Yes, most definitely."

Jasper was holding Steven up so he could jump onto the roof of the 'Big Donut' building. He climbed into the big metal pastry, and sat in the hole.

"I am now the Master of the Stevens, and donuts!" Steven called, causing several of city's citizens to look at him funny.

"Hey, I think you should come down now!" Jasper said, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Oh, Alright. Catch me!" Steven held his arms above his head, and leapt off the building, right in Jasper's open hands.

"Was this necessary? I don't understand what you were doing." She put the small human on the ground, and followed him into a restaurant called 'Fish Stew Pizza.' Taking care of this boy was coming off as being somewhat of a challenge for her nerves.

"You just don't understand, but I forgive you."

Steven took a seat at a table in the back, next to a table with four rowdy teenage humans. They were loud and rambunctious, and their screeching voices were clawing at Jasper's brain. Steven called one of the pizza girls over, and ordered a pizza. He stared at Jasper, and she ran her hand through her hair shyly.

"How come one of your arms is orange, and the other one is a deeper red color?" Steven asked her shamelessly.

"Because this," She held up her left hand, "is my heart grabbing hand. It's forever stained with the blood of my enemies!"

"Eh..."

"Joking, I'm joking." She coughed, swallowing thickly. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a flash of light, but when she turned to look, everything was normal.

"How much do you love Lapis?" Steven questioned her.

This kid had no filter whatsoever on his tiny mouth.

"What is this, 20 questions day today? Sheesh." She picked at her teeth with her index finger, trying to avoid the awkward question.

"Do you love her enough to let her go? Do you love her enough to complete your true mission?"

Jasper bit down on her finger, the taste and scent of blood trickled across her senses.

"Excuse me?" She choked.

Steven's smile turned into a deep frown. The pizza came to the table, and he just stared at it. She watched him, unable to say anything.

"Time is running out. I'm going to give you one last chance to redeem yourself." Steven stood, picked up the box of pizza, and left the restaurant. Jasper followed him outside. He walked down the sidewalk a little ways, and stopped. He turned around, and his eyes were dull and distant. A yellow Diamond was on his shirt instead of a star.

"Yellow Diamond!" Jasper hissed, taking a fighting stance.

"Don't even try it. I am merely using this human as a host to get my message across. Now, unless you want me to take this kid off a cliff, kneel before your leader, and obey me." Y.D Steven demanded, placing his hands on his hips and glaring at her.

Jasper couldn't believe it. How had Yellow Diamond infiltrated them? Peridot said she wouldn't be coming for weeks. Peridot... Did she lie to her again? She noticed another flash in her peripherals, but when she turned her head, she saw nothing. She thought about what Y.D Steven said, about whether or not she loved Lapis enough to leave her. It was supposedly the same threat that she told Peridot, but it still seemed pretty far'fetched. She clenched her fists, and took a knee before her Commander.

"Good."

xxx

Jasper had been staring at Steven eating his pizza for 30 minutes. He was waving his hand in front of her face, trying to get her to come out of her trance. She was so shocked, that she tipped her chair backwards, smashing it to pieces.

"Jasper, are you okay?" Steven ran to her, and she scooted away from him. She saw that he was holding a small round yellow gem in his right hand.

"Steven, is everything okay?" Kiki, one of the pizza girls ran over to them, bending over Jasper with a worried look on her face.

"What's going on... A minute ago you... What is that gem you're holding?" Jasper looked at her finger. There was no broken skin.

"Are you... tired or something? You zoned out, and I couldn't get you to respond to me!" Steven stepped back so she could stand up on her feet. "And I just found this, it was in the corner on the floor. Strange place for a gem, don't you agree?"

"I... I must be..." She picked up the broken pieces of the chair. She reached out and touched the gem, and flashes of her worst fears played across her vision. Steven bubbled it away, and her mind cleared. "Shit, I'm sorry."

"No worries. We have spares in the back." Kiki took the pieces from her.

Jasper and Steven walked home, and she jumped at every shadow she passed. The whole impending doom situation was apparently stressing her out. She needed some kind of relief, before she completely lost her mind.

Jasper flung open the door, seeing Lapis and Peridot gaming away upstairs. None of the lights were on, and it was fairly cold inside. Jasper tromped up the stairs and hoisted Peridot up.

"Hey! We're gonna lose, you clod!" She screeched. Jasper just glared at her, and she shut up. Jasper took her downstairs, and sat her on the couch.

"Stay here, and watch the Steven." Jasper ran back up the stairs and scooped Lapis up in her arms.

"Jasper, can you at least tell me why you're man-handling me?" Lapis was speaking, but Jasper wasn't listening.

She opened their room, and made sure the door was secured behind them.

"Jasper, honestly. I don't appreciate the silent treatment from you, or the way you're treating me."

"Lapis, something happened to me while I was out with Steven. I.. zoned out or something... Steven had a weird gem that I think used it's magic to amplify my concerns about Yellow Diamond being on her way to this planet. I had weird visions of Yellow Diamond taking over Steven's body, and asking me how much I love you, and all these stupid, embarrassing questions. I feel completely stressed out" She admitted to the ocean Gem.

"What?" Lapis was too cute when she was confused.

"Y.D Steven asked me if I loved you enough to leave you, in order to protect you. In my mind, for a split second, I was selfish. I told myself I would never leave you. Truth is though, I would do _anything_ to keep you safe. Even if it means that my gem is destroyed."

Lapis was appalled. "Now wait just a minute! That's not what I want from you, Jasper! Please, don't say such ridiculous things." Lapis crossed her arms. "Now if you go back on your word, what kind of Gem would you be?"

Jasper took in a sharp breath. "What?"

"Were all those fancy words about not being able to live without me just something you came up with for the fun of it? Because I've already said this before, but I can't imagine living in this world without you! It goes both ways. So don't talk about carelessly throwing away your life for me, when we should both be trying to stay alive!" Lapis slid out of Jasper's arms so she could stand and look at her properly.

"Of course not but..."

"You listen to me for once, okay? You're brash, hot-headed, rude, crude, and sometimes you're mean. At least you were. I admit you've been a lot better lately. But underneath all that, you're kind, loyal, brave... But you take it to the extreme. You need to find a happy medium somewhere, in the middle of being a complete ass, and being a protective overbearing brute. When you do, you'll finally see the truth." Lapis' voice rang in Jasper's mind with several tones of deep sadness.

"See... what?"

"That I don't need you sacrificing yourself for me, okay? Stupid..." Lapis pounded her fist against Jasper's chest.

Jasper grasped her small, dainty hands in hers, and stared into her azure blue eyes.

"Now, why did you bring me in here again?" Lapis asked, blowing the bangs out of her eyes.

Jasper grinned with desire burning in her eyes.


	23. Chapter 23

JASPER

Jasper was sitting in the window, watching a storm brewing over the ocean. Torrential rain and wind shook the house with such force, she didn't know if the little structure could take much more of nature's abuse. Did she feel a lot better about their situation? Of course she did. Lapis just had her way of relieving her stress.

The Crystal Gems were still gone, and she was okay with that. Things were a lot quieter around here without them. Lapis and Peridot played their Co-op online game, and Steven lounged on his bed watching them. Everything was okay, so she continued to brood.

"These... what's that word... _noobs_... don't know what they're doing! Why are we grouped with them again?" Lapis groaned, looking to the green Gem.

"Because matchmaking sucks in every online game I've played so far, and we don't really have a choice." Peridot responded, not taking her eyes off the TV screen.

"Ugh... No way!" Lapis threw her arms in the air, and slumped against the bed.

Steven poked Jasper's arm, and she looked down at him. He took a firm grip on her hand, and pulled himself up into her lap. This kid loved to sit in her lap, and she supposed she didn't mind it anymore either.

"Looks scary out there," he observed, watching out the window with her.

"Yeah. This is just the calm before the storm, kid." She leaned her head against the window, focusing her gaze on droplets of water racing down the glass.

"Jasper, I'm scared. I don't know anything about Yellow Diamond, and she just sounds mean! Even meaner than you!" He subconsciously squeezed her finger as he spoke. "Why is she so obsessed with Earth?"

Jasper squeezed Steven's palms with her thumb and index finger. The other Crystal Gems didn't want to worry Steven, but she found it extremely hard to form lies for him. She tried to keep her breathing steady, and saw lightning dance across the sky.

"Yellow Diamond is Head Commander of the Military Branch in Homeworld. She is great at her job, because she's stubborn, ruthless, manipulative, and never backs down from a fight. She's discarded basic emotions, strengthening her resolve into her pride, and her wrath. She's not without a leader though, and gains her orders from even higher up. You, I mean Rose, hurt her pride when she defied her, to protect this planet and the life here, starting the largest civil war in Gem History."

"My Dad said that lots of Gems were destroyed. Mom must have been very brave to take on such a strong Gem."

"Many, many Gems _were_ destroyed, and many humans were killed. I myself destroyed hundreds of Gems, without a second thought. I obeyed, and crushed everything in my way."

"That's terrible!"

"You have a big heart Steven. But, I can't change the past. I can't stop the future." She clenched her fist. "When Yellow Diamond wants something, she'll wipe out everything that gets in her path."

Steven sunk into Jasper's torso, covering his face with his hands. His little body started to shake uncontrollably.

"What are we gonna do?" He started to cry.

God dammit, she screwed up again. A large bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, lighting up the beach in eerie white light.

"What did you do to Steven?" Lapis called down, still not pulling away from the video game.

"I think I broke him..." She called back.

"Did you try unplugging it, and plugging it back in?" Peridot added nonchalantly.

"What?"

"Stupid... scrubs... Think they're so good as they blatantly are feeding the enemy team..." Peridot grumbled.

Jasper just shook her head, and squeezed Steven. "Steven, listen to me. I'll let you in a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. **"** She whispered to him. He nodded, holding back his sobs. "I'm not going to let Yellow Diamond go through with her plans."

"Because of Lapis?"

Jasper felt the heat rushing to her face. She lifted Steven up under his arms, and look at him.

"Not just Lapis anymore, Steven I..."

 _ **BOOM!**_

The house shook so hard that a bookshelf toppled over, spilling several books and old tomes out across the floor. Steven left Jasper's grip, and ran over to the shelf.

"Oh no! The books Connie lent me were on there!"

The electricity went out just then, and the only light was coming from the three Gem's gems.

"No!" Peridot exclaimed dramatically.

"This storm is getting too crazy!" Lapis took her headset off, and ventured down the stairs. She touched Jasper's arm lightly.

"Let's move this party into the temple. At least until the storm passes." Jasper lead the way, and her and Lapis opened their door.

"Are you coming, Peridot?" Lapis called, standing in the doorway.

"Oh, um. Sure." Peridot clambered down to them, and entered their room cautiously. She went over to their flat-screen, and touched it, feeding it electricity, so it turned on. Jasper wondered why she couldn't have done that to the lights and stuff in Steven's room.

"Let's watch a movie!" Steven knelt down in front of the TV, and started digging through Lapis' collection of DVDs. She had been collecting them, after Steven showed her a scary movie called 'Evil Bear 2.' He pulled one out and looked at it curiously. "What's 'Passion of Xanxor 2; the OTP?'" He asked, holding it up. The cover had two alien females on it.

"Oh my God, give me that!" Lapis swiped the DVD from Steven and held it behind her back. Her face was flushed a dark blue.

"I'm pretty sure Dad had that book in his Dad Museum!"

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't have this particular one."

Jasper couldn't keep in a loud, guttural chuckle.

"How about this?" Steven popped in a movie, and sat in front of the couch. More thunder rumbled in the background, and the three Homeworld Gems jumped over the back of the couch and sat together. Jasper was in the middle of Peridot and Lapis.

"Why would you keep that there?" Jasper whispered to Lapis.

"Shh... It's just a fan-made flick..."

"You guys are clods. Please shut up." Peridot chided them, crossing her arms.

The four of them watched the movie together in peace. There was a part where a monster jumped out to eat a girl, and Peridot, Lapis, and Steven all turned to cling onto Jasper.

"Why me?" She looked at each one individually.

Peridot's face cracked into a wide grin that surprised the hell out of Jasper. Lapis giggled, and Steven gazed upon the three of them with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Peridot, you have such a pretty smile!" Steven said to the green Gem. Peridot started to giggle, and covered her mouth with a hand. She couldn't seem to stop. Lapis couldn't stop either, and Jasper failed to see what was so funny.

The loudest crack of thunder ever echoed throughout their temple room.

"That's it, Steven needs his rest!" Steven jumped into Jasper and Lapis' bed, and curled up in Lapis' fuzzy blankets.

"I'm gonna go make sure the house is still there..." Jasper shuffled out of the small living space, and opened the temple door to peek outside.

The house was still intact, to her surprise. She could hear the wind howling outside. She turned back to her room, and saw that Lapis had fallen asleep on the couch. Peridot was laying on the opposite arm, eyes closed and quiet.

Jasper took a seat in the middle of the two and leaned back with her arms behind her head, letting sleep take over.

LAPIS

When Lapis woke up, she could hardly move. Sleeping on the couch was not a good idea, and it had left her back sore, and her arm numb from sleeping on it. She noticed that Peridot was sleeping with her head on the opposite arm of the couch, and she had her feet propped up on Jasper's lap. Lapis gritted her teeth slightly, but took a deep breath, calming herself.

Jasper woke up, and rubbed her eyes sleepily. She pushed Peridot's feet off her, and stood up, stretching.

"Good morning, Lapis." She smiled. Jasper reached out to caress Lapis' cheek, but when she felt the orange Gem touch her face, the scene around her changed.

She was in prison once again. Peridot lay on the floor next to her. The green Gem's face was bruised, and her nose was bloodied. Lapis covered her own mouth, and knelt next her.

"Peridot! Peridot, what happened? One minute we were in the temple and now we're... I don't know where we are, to be honest."

Peridot opened her eyes, and Lapis saw tears building up in those neon green orbs.

"I... I told her to stay... Why did she leave me here... I just wanted to be her friend..." Peridot mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" Lapis removed Peridot's visor, and tossed it off to the side. She put Peridot's head in her lap, and stroked her hair.

"Do you think we could have been... friends?"

Lapis had no idea what Peridot was mumbling about. She was so confused. Where was Jasper? Wait, was it Jasper she was talking about?

"Peridot, come on," She spoke gently, continuing to stroke the green Gem's hair. "Where is Jasper?"

"Jasper... I told her to stay..." Peridot sobbed, making it extremely hard for Lapis to understand her.

"Where did she go Peridot...!?" She was practically screaming at her.

"Y-Yellow Diamond..." Peridot's head lobbed to the side, and she lost consciousness.

"P-Peridot!"

The ground opened up underneath her, and Lapis found herself falling. She clawed at the air, trying to catch hold of anything to stop the fall, but was unsuccessful. She hit the floor on her back, the force of the fall knocked the wind from her lungs, and caused her great pain, leaving her gasping for air.

She picked herself up, and stumbled, like she had forgotten how to walk. It was exactly how she had felt when she first was set free of the mirror, and walked for the first time in 5,000 years. She leaned against the wall, staring down a pitch black corridor. She could faintly see light at the end.

She urged her body to move, picking up the pace and turning into a full on sprint towards the end of the corridor. A feeling of dread so heavy filled her every bone. She entered the light, leading into a large diamond shaped room. She could have sworn her heart stopped then and there.

Jasper and Yellow Diamond were facing off against one another. Jasper's right arm was hanging useless by her side. Lapis thought it must have been broken. Jasper was wearing her old jumpsuit, but it was tattered in places, like she had narrowly escaped a weapon of some kind. Blood was dripping from her right hand, and she had her back to her.

"Defective. You were created not for the purpose of gallivanting around with another Gem, but to be my hand of fate! Of course, like everything else I let other Gems do instead of myself, you are flawed and broken. What a shame. You were my favorite pawn." Yellow Diamond cackled.

"Jasper, run! I told you not to sacrifice yourself for me!"

Jasper slowly turned her face, and made eye contact with her. Her eyes were wide in shock, like she hadn't expected her to show up. Lapis' eyes followed a single tear that rolled down her cheek, mixing with the bloodstains on her chin.

She watched in horror as a Gem Destabilizer pierced through Jasper's body. The larger Gem's physical body deteriorated, and Lapis was left with that burning look of complete shock etched into her mind.

Yellow Diamond picked up Jasper's gem, and let out a wicked laugh. She held her fist out towards Lapis, and squeezed her hand. Jasper's gem crumbled into dust before her very eyes.

Lapis fell to her knees and screamed.

XXX

"Lapis! Wake up, Please!"

Lapis opened her eyes, seeing two blazing yellow orbs staring at her.

"J-Jasper." Her heart was throbbing against her breastbone, and as her eyes focused, she was able to see that she was still laying on the couch in their room. She grabbed Jasper's face with her hands and squished her cheeks together, making her lips pucker out awkwardly. She brought her fingers down across the other's gem, and down to her lips, pulling her bottom lip out slightly.

Lapis' eyes welled up, and tears spilled down her face. Jasper laid down next to her, and pulled her as close to her as she could, with Lapis' back to her. Jasper placed a hand against Lapis' chest, and Lapis clutched it with both of her hands. She was unable to process the situation at that moment.

Jasper's warmth against her reassured her. Her Jasper was still here, and what she thought she had seen, was only a dream... No, not a dream, a nightmare..

She turned to face Jasper; she needed to be able to see her face. To see that she was okay. Jasper leaned in and kissed her tears, causing her to choke up again.

"Bad dream?" Jasper whispered.

"P-Peridot... badly hurt...And you..." Lapis sobbed. "Yellow Diamond crushed your gem and you were gone... But... it wasn't real?"

"No, Lapis, I'm still here." Jasper nuzzled her cheek against Lapis', speaking in soft even tones. "I'm still here."

"And Peridot?"

"Peridot and Steven returned to the house, and are cleaning up the beach of debris from the storm."

"Oh..."

Lapis closed her eyes. The dream had been so real, causing terror to seep into the very core of her being. She now had no doubt in her mind about her role when Yellow Diamond called on them. She was going to protect her. Steven too. The two things, no, the two beings worth the trouble of protecting this miserable planet.

Her tears had gone dry, and she rubbed at her puffy eyes. Jasper just laid there peacefully, eyes closed, but still awake. Lapis pressed her lips against her's, needing the final validation that this too, wasn't just a dream.

 **Author's Note: I was halfway through writing this Chapter, when Random Guest left me a great idea that worked with the stormy night theme of this chapter! So, thank you random Guest, and I hope you liked it.**


	24. Chapter 24

PERIDOT

Peridot had been the only one who hadn't worried a bit about Yellow Diamond's potential arrival on the Earth. She was too busy filling her brain with the wonders of human technology.

The Steven had been kind enough to introduce her to the internet, a strange network of communication and database of all the knowledge you could ever want; and it could be seen on a small screened machine called a cellphone.

She commandeered this human's device, and she was hooked to it. She found herself reading an online encyclopedia website most of the day. Much to everyone's dismay, she had been spouting off random facts of knowledge every chance she could get.

Jasper and Lapis left their temple room together, laughing and chatting obnoxiously. Peridot felt the pang of jealously throb in her throat, and turned back to the phone. She wanted to think that she accepted the fact that her and Jasper could never be a couple, but whenever she saw them together all she felt was envious of their relationship.

Lapis sat on the couch next to her, and pinched her cheeks playfully.

"Tell me something interesting!" The blue Gem said, pushing Peridot's cheeks together.

Peridot shooed her hands away.

"Humans imprison these creatures called 'cows', and force them to reproduce in order to take their babies, pump their sustenance juice out of a bag called an 'udder' and bottle it up to drink it themselves. Female babies are grown to produce more of this 'milk', and males usually become food for human's 'dogs', or something called hamburger." She said nonchalantly, frowning at Steven who was actively pouring milk onto his bowl of cereal.

"Ew... Really? That's gross." Lapis stuck her tongue out.

"Jasper ate an unfertilized chicken egg when you made that strawberry cake."

"Ugh..."

"Still delicious. Don't care." Jasper sat on the other side of Peridot, and put her feet on the table. She grabbed the phone out of Peridot's hands and looked it over.

"Hey!" Peridot reached for it, but the larger Gem easily kept it out of her reach.

"Did you know," Jasper said with a mocking tone in her voice, "that staring at this screen will make you go blind?"

"Jasper don't be mean." Lapis reprimanded her.

"Fine." Jasper held the phone towards Peridot and she grabbed it hastily.

"Peridot, your robot is doing something." The Steven called, pointing at the robonoid. It walked over to the small human and squirted it's goop all over his feet.

"Hey, what?" Peridot jumped up and picked the marble robot up. "Hey, stop that! Ugh, this thing is so defective. It's the only working one I have. Without access to Gem Technology it will have to do." She hit the robot a couple times, and put it in her corner where her pile of other robots laid.

She trudged back to the couch and took a seat. An air of awkwardness still lingered between the three Gems, and she was not enjoying it. She felt like she was trapped between star-crossed lovers, and she was only in the way.

"Does anyone know when Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl are supposed to come back?" The Steven asked, sitting on the floor on top of a cushion.

"Nope." Jasper and Lapis said in unison.

Peridot rolled her eyes.

"I hope they're okay."

"Steven, I'm sure they're okay. Bedsides, aren't we fun to hang out with?" Lapis asked, looking directly at the Steven.

"Yeah..."

"What can we do to keep your mind off it?"

"Well... It would be really cool if you guys fused into Malachite again, and we found some giant monsters to beat up! Oh, or it would be really cool if one of you fused with Peridot! Or all three of you!" The Steven had starry-eyes just thinking of the possibilities.

" _Absolutely not!_ " All three of them said at the same time.

"Fusion isn't just something that should be done for fun. Fusion symbolizes the relationships and synchronization compatibility between all fused Gems. Haven't the Crystal Gems explained any of this to you?" Lapis inquired, her hands were moving a lot as she spoke.

"Of course, many times." The Steven answered, looking a little confused.

"Many terrible things could happen. We could even _lose_ ourselves to our combined amalgam's conscience. Also, fusing with... someone who you don't have a good relationship with makes things like the original Malachite happen... It really was just Jasper and I mashed together." Lapis shuttered.

"Is that why you had no legs, just arms?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Oh." The Steven turned his attention to Peridot. "But don't you want to know what it's like, think of the possibilities!"

Peridot had tried to ignore the whole conversation, but when the Steven addressed her directly, it was the end of her patience for the human. She stood, hands clenched and eyes downcast.

"You don't understand anything!" She stomped away out the front door. How could he? He was an abomination. A half-gem. He probably hadn't ever fused before either.

Peridot circled around the cliff and sat behind a large boulder near where Jasper and her had talked after the volleyball game. She gazed at the ocean feeling completely embarrassed about the whole fusion thing.

It's not like she hadn't thought about it. She pretended it didn't matter to her, but deep down she was pretty sure that every Gem thought about fusing. It was a very intimate aspect of Gem culture, allowing another Gem to meld with your mind and learn their every thought; their every _desire_.

"Peridot, are you okay?" It was Lapis who spoke to her. Peridot looked out past her, seeing Jasper hanging back closer to the house. She seemed to be communing with the Steven.

"Peridot?" Lapis reiterated, a little more forcefully.

"What do _you_ care?" She snapped at the blue Gem.

"I care because... I thought this is what friends do; listen to each other. Offer to talk if they need to." Lapis sat in the sand in front of her, and folded her hands on her lap.

"I don't want to talk to _you_." Peridot's words were harsh, hitting Lapis like daggers. Friends? This Gem was completely out of her gore.

"Well if you don't want to talk then I'll talk. Let's start with how I feel. I know you still have weird conflicting feelings about Jasper. Thinking about _fusion_ must make you feel awkward, or left-out... Maybe you two should talk about it. Resolve the issue. Stop playing it off like it didn't happen, because it did."

"I don't want your help. A clod like you wouldn't know the first thing about how _I_ feel. You've probably had everything handed to you. You act like you think you know me, but really you know _nothing_ about me! You think of me as a friend? I think of you as a nuisance."

Lapis smacked Peridot across the face, knocking her visor off of her face. "What _do_ you want Peridot? Because it's pretty obvious to me that you'd rather rot here in your misery alone!"

Jasper was now watching them, the sound of Lapis' hand against Peridot's face would have made anyone look in their direction. Lapis clenched her fists, and stomped away. Peridot let her, she didn't need her around anyway. She touched her face, which still stung.

Peridot stood and dusted herself off, catching a glimpse of Lapis. She was arguing with Jasper, she assumed, because they both looked angry. Lapis was flailing her arms around while they bantered back and forth.

Suddenly, Lapis pushed against Jasper with her palms, and turned to the ocean. She split the ocean with her hydrokinesis and disappeared into it. Jasper was standing there obviously dumbfounded. Peridot was extremely curious as to what had transpired between the two.

Jasper turned her attention to her, and she felt a tinge of fear creep down her spine. Jasper's demeanor had completely changed, and she looked furious. She bolted towards her.

Peridot entered flight mode, and found herself sprinting away; afraid of what was going to happen if she were caught by the brute of a Gem. She of course was so boggled with thoughts she didn't notice the wet log laying on the beach and tripped, smacking her face against the ground.

"You!" Jasper pushed Peridot onto her back with her foot. "You really upset Lapis you know! She was one of the only people who gave you a chance and you threw it in her face. Even though she has jealousy issues, she still gave you the benefit of the doubt and stood up for you. If I had it my way, you would have been gone a long time ago."

"I don't know why, it's not like we're friends or anything." Peridot scoffed, focusing her gaze to Jasper's side.

"Ugh! You're infuriating!" Jasper pulled her hair, trying to keep herself from punching Peridot in the face.

Peridot bit her bottom lip.

"I'm not the Gem to stand here and lecture you about friendship, rainbows, stars and crap..." Jasper said uneasily, shifting her weight back and forth between her two feet. "So what am I even doing..." The larger Gem turned her back to Peridot.

"W-Wait!" Peridot took a deep breath. Pretending not to care, was a lot harder than she had originally thought. Lapis wasn't around; it was a perfect opportunity. Jasper didn't move, and that made it all the easier to talk to her.

"What." Jasper growled under her breath.

"I just want you to know something before I lose this chance forever." She felt her heart beat faster. "Back in the cornfield I wasn't lying when I said I still have feelings for you." She suddenly felt very nauseous.

"Why are you telling me this again?"

"Before, when I told you, I wanted to try to hurt you with that knowledge. Now, I just want to set things straight between us. Just hear me out!" She pleaded, afraid that Jasper would just leave her before she could explain herself to her.

"I'm listening."

"You know that relationships between Gems that aren't professional are looked down upon in our field of work..."

"Looked down upon, but not forbidden."

"I told you that Yellow Diamond found out that we were spending time together. That she knew were getting more familiar with each other on a personal level. She noticed that your work ethic started to decline, because you were always doing things with me. She hates when her pawns don't do exactly as she says, so she pulled me aside before our last mission. She said that if I didn't leave you, she would destroy your gem! You would have been gone forever!"

"That still doesn't explain what you were doing with that prissy little red clump of..."

"She was just a front! I lied about sneaking off to see her every time we visited a different planet. I needed you to believe that I didn't care for you anymore. It killed me to do it, but what other choice did I have! At least this way I still was able to be by your side! To continue to work with you..."

Jasper's fists tightened. Her body was visibly shaking. Peridot wanted to know what she was thinking, and she was so afraid that her words were only pushing this Gem farther out of her reach.

"I'm sorry Peridot. I can't logically respond to you right now. What you did was weak, and I can't stand that. If I look at you, I'll probably punch you in the face."

Peridot watched Jasper take off down the beach. She was in shock. What was she going to do now?

JASPER

Jasper had heard Peridot tell her about Yellow Diamond supposedly manipulating her into ending their relationship the first time, but she couldn't process it at that moment. She was in love with Lapis, and that wasn't going to change. Whatever the reason, even if she _was_ claiming it wasn't her choice, the fact of the matter remained that they were _not_ together. Why did Peridot insist on constantly messing with her head?

It was all so very surreal. She didn't want to deal with this situation when she had bigger things to worry about. Like the certain doom of the Gem Military coming upon this world with full force.

And Lapis... She was so hurt by the things Peridot had said, that she yelled at Jasper. She ran off into the sea, saying she'd return when they figured their 'shit' out.

"This is just stupid!" Jasper shouted, summoning her Crash Helmet and slamming her head against the cliff. "Why am I so desirable all of a sudden?" She beat her head against the wall so hard, that a chunk of the cliff fell down towards here. She let it hit her, the force against her helmet caused it to split and spill around her feet.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder just then, and her reflex was to turn and throw a punch in their direction. Garnet side-stepped her punch, grabbed her arm, and used the velocity of her movement to toss her onto her back.

"Ugh... Garnet, what the hell?"

"We're back. Steven said you three were having some issues, so I came down here to have a chat with you." Garnet held her hand out to her, and helped her stand.

"What makes everyone think that I wanna chat about my feelings all the time? Sometimes I just need a little violence to sooth my nerves."

"I understand. But I promised Steven I would talk to you."

"That kid is always in my business." Jasper crossed her arms defensively across her chest.

"He cares about you. He cares about everyone. He's just like Rose. But, tell me what's going on."

Jasper puffed out her cheeks. She didn't even know where to start. She explained to Garnet exactly what she knew. She had no idea what to expect, not like she could see Garnet's expression behind those glasses anyway.

"Yikes." Garnet adjusted her glasses and put a finger to her temple like she was thinking, or having an inner conversation with herself.

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Love can take on many shapes and forms. Just because Peridot wants to love you in one way, doesn't mean that it's the only way to love you. You and Lapis have come a long way; you've put in some work despite everything you've been through. But now, you need to work even harder."

"What? Why? What should I do? I'm so conflicted."

"Why don't you start by offering Peridot your friendship. If she _was_ hassled by your superior, it's unfortunate, but at least you wouldn't be making her feel even worse about this whole ordeal. It's worth a try. You're all stuck here together."

Jasper didn't like the idea, but at the same time she did. She wanted to go to Peridot and tell her to shove her fingers where the sun don't shine, but that Gem had been there for her before...

Garnet surprised Jasper, reaching out and wiping her cheek with her fingers. She brought her hand back down, but not before Jasper saw they were wet.

Jasper quickly wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands, and tried to toughen her resolve. Garnet removed her glasses, and stared at Jasper with watery eyes. She held out her hand, and Jasper gripped it tightly. She felt herself tugged forward into the fusion Gem's embrace.

"You can do this, Jasper."

PERIDOT

Anticipation of the unknown was killing Peridot's perfect resolve. She felt like she was so embarrassed about the whole ordeal, she couldn't show her face to anyone. She hadn't even moved from her spot near the boulder. She was frozen in uncertainty.

All this time alone gave her the opportunity to dwell on her life. Compared to Homeworld, she had to admit being stuck with the Steven wasn't actually so terrible. He said nice things to her, unlike some clods. In fact, now that she thought about it there was only one other person who showed her any kindness and that was...

"Holy crap." She put her forehead into her hand. "Lapis Lazuli." She felt like an idiot. She put her hand down and saw a familiar red-orange hand palm-up towards her before her eyes. She looked up at Jasper with a shocked expression on her face.

"I can't give you what you want from me, but I can offer you my friendship." Jasper's voice was soft. Not a single tone of anger could be heard.

"Friendship..." Peridot repeated, watching the orange Gem carefully.

"I know, it's weird. I don't even think I understand exactly what that means but, I would be willing to find out. Together." Jasper bit her lip nervously.

Peridot felt a strange warm sensation spreading through her being. She thought it was the feeling of happiness returning after being gone for so long. She took Jasper's hand and let her pull her to her feet.

"I... I would like that."

Jasper pulled her into a hug, and she felt elated. Like a heaviness in her chest was lifted. She buried her face into Jasper's torso. She had missed the feeling of her arms around her.

"Ahem."

Jasper and Peridot both jumped apart from each other, and noticed they had a mini audience. The Steven was standing next to Lapis with stars in his eyes. Lapis' face was unreadable at that moment. The Steven pulled her with him and gathered them all together in a group hug.

"I'm sorry, Lapis." Peridot whispered.

"I know." She whispered back.

"Do you still want to be friends?"

Lapis took a minute to respond to her.

"Yes. But don't think I'm going to let you steal her from me."

"Can we stop hugging yet?" Jasper groaned.

"Less talking, more hugging!" The Steven chuckled.


	25. Chapter 25

LAPIS

Steven's house was definitely not big enough for seven Gems, three humans, and one large fluffy Lion. Lapis felt claustrophobic, sitting at a large table packed with food and people. Apparently it was only the beginning of a day filled with fun events for Steven's Birthday Celebration.

The day had started out normal enough, that was until Garnet announced that for one day she would be defusing so everyone could meet Ruby and Sapphire; the two Gems who made up the powerful Gem. The second she split, it was as if a switch were flipped in Jasper's brain from slightly irritable mode, to bully mode. She picked on them non-stop.

She laughed at their size, poked fun at their seemingly weak appearance; until she made a rude comment about Sapphire's singing driving her crazy. That's when Ruby showed her true colors, slamming Jasper's face into the table.

"Oh right in the gem!" Steven winced. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Jasper crossed her arms, and slid down in her chair to mope. "If it were a few months ago I'd..."

Lapis put her hand on Jasper's arm to warn her not to say what she was thinking. Jasper had been in enough trouble with Amethyst, and didn't need to add this to the list of reasons to kick Jasper out. The violet colored Gem could always be caught staring over at the orange one, a look of pure irritation was plain about her face. It was all Jasper's fault, naturally.

Generally, Amethyst and Jasper regarded each other with terrible jokes and toothy grins. Being around such strong personalities made Lapis glad they had their own temple room to escape to when things got too overbearing for her brain. Jasper and her were mouthing off terrible insults to each other, when Jasper made a comment about how Amethyst was 'an overcooked runt.' Again. Jasper didn't think anything of it, but Lapis saw the confusion and hurt cross Amethyst's violet eyes. Amethyst demanded to know why Jasper said that about her, because she wasn't exactly sure what she was getting at. More insults were said, leaving Amethyst full of rage. She had stormed off. Since that day they have only been bottling up their emotions, not talking to each other very much.

"Why is there so much food? It's not like we need to eat..." Pearl had a look of pure disgust on her face.

"I agree. Food is quite disgusting." Peridot concurred, and caught Pearl's eyes with her own. They smiled at each other and nodded, noting their common dislike for food.

"We're doing this for Steven. All of us. It's important to him to have all his family here for this celebration." Sapphire spoke calmly, with her hands folded neatly on the table.

"The less you all want to eat means more for me!" Amethyst reached for the last fresh serving of strawberries. Lapis laughed when Jasper noticed, instinctively reaching her own hand for them. The two both grabbed it, and glared at each other.

"Just try it ya runt." Jasper hissed between clenched teeth.

"Eh what? Bring it!" Amethyst got up in Jasper's face. Lapis could see the smaller Gem trying hard to look intimidating. She felt embarrassed for the way they were acting in front of everyone.

Amethyst leapt at Jasper, and the two of them tumbled on the floor, knocking over the chairs.

"Not in the house... Oh no!" Pearl screeched at them, leaping over the table to catch the photo of the Crystal Gems that hung on a support beam connected to the wrap around counter.

Lapis wasn't sure if they were seriously mad at each other over some berries, or if this went a lot deeper than that. Knowing Jasper at least, she was definitely pissed off. She watched the two roll around, right through the door and onto the beach.

The five Gems, Connie, Greg and Steven all ran outside to watch what was going to happen next. Steven seemed anxious, like he was getting ready to jump in the middle of the two to stop them from fighting.

Amethyst shape-shifted into her larger, more muscular Purple Puma form and wrestled Jasper. This form was significantly larger than her original, but was still smaller than the orange Gem. This transformation must have shocked Jasper, because Amethyst was able to lift her up over her head and toss her into the ocean.

Lapis made a start towards the two, but Sapphire grabbed her arm.

"Just a minute." The small cobalt Gem said calmly.

Jasper picked herself up and shook her hand through her hair. Amethyst was making a pose, flexing her muscles towards the onlookers, and trash talking incoherently. Lapis raised an eyebrow at this rude gesture.

"What do ya think of me now?" Amethyst roared, puffing out her chest.

"I think..." Jasper kicked at the sand, and looked up at Steven. Lapis saw her take a deep breath, and turn to Amethyst. "I think that those berries are mine!" Jasper shape-shifted her body to resemble Amethyst's, but a little different. She opted for no chest hair. She even matched Amethyst's height.

Amethyst pointed at Jasper and laughed, gaining a huge smile on her face. They charged at each other and wrestled more. Lapis rolled her eyes at the scene before her. On the outside they seemed like they were okay with one another, but Lapis felt very skeptical about it.

"Oh my Gosh! We could totally do the wrestling thing again! Jasper you need a name!" Steven exclaimed excitedly, moving closer to the tussling Gems.

"Busy. Steven." Jasper hoisted Amethyst into the air and threw her on the ground, putting her into a neck hold.

"What is the point of this exercise?" Peridot asked, looking to Pearl for an answer.

"There is no point! It's barbaric..." Pearl scoffed, crossing her arms and turning her nose up towards the sky.

"At least they aren't arguing. Let em beat each other up a little." Ruby grunted, putting her hands on her hips.

"Steven I want you to back away from there it's dangerous, and you could get hurt!" Greg hollered, looking extremely worried.

"Mercy! Mercy!" Amethyst groaned, transforming back into her original form. "Man, you really know what you're doing!"

Jasper cracked her knuckles and had a prideful grin on her face. She ran up to Lapis who thought it weird how much shorter she was. Lapis could actually reach her shoulders without flying up, or being lifted.

"Look at you, your hair is a mess." Lapis smiled, moving Jasper's hair out of her face. Jasper blushed, bending down to kiss her.

"Hey Jasper!" Steven tugged on the orange Gem's arm. "That was so cool how you wrestled with Amethyst!"

"Thanks kid." Jasper sighed, and messed up his hair.

"Steven, what do you want to do next?" Pearl called.

"Gifts!" He replied, running towards her.

"Gifts?" Lapis and Jasper gave each other a horrified look. They were so wrapped up in their own affairs, they didn't even think about getting him a gift. Even after being reminded several times about it.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Amethyst elbowed Lapis in the side. "Come on, I'll let you pick something from the junk in my room, but you owe me one.

"What about Jasper?" Lapis asked, following the purple Gem into the house.

"Sure."

Jasper shrugged, and changed back into her regular form. She caught up to them, and they entered Amethyst's temple room. All around the three Gems was purple crystals, and large piles of human junk.

It also _reeked_ like old garbage.

"This is not my thing. I have no idea what that little punk would even want as a gift." Jasper complained. She picked up an old toilet, frowned at it, and threw it off to her side.

"Hey watch it! If anyone is going to destroy my junk, it should be me!" Amethyst snapped, running over to the toilet and setting it against a pile of junk in her own particular way.

"Why do you have all this stuff?" Lapis asked, sifting through a pile of old Gem weapons. The cold steel of the weapons sent eerie chills down her arms.

Amethyst kicked over a pile of junk, sending common household objects toppling into Jasper. She did not answer the blue Gem.

Lapis picked up an old photo of the Crystal Gems. She saw Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. She even found herself staring at their beautiful matriarch Rose Quartz.

"What about this? Steven would love a photo of his mom, don't you think?" Lapis held the photo out for Amethyst to see.

"Yeah, I have another one of those somewhere else. Nice find Lapis." Amethyst gave her the thumbs up, and she tucked the photo into her top.

Lapis made her way around one of the piles, and saw Jasper digging through a pile of what she thought were old torture devices.

"I... don't think you're going to find something for Steven in there..." She made a face, watching Jasper toss a thick silver chain back and forth between her two large hands.

Jasper didn't say anything. She was focused on the chains. Amethyst came around the other side, and stopped to stare.

Lapis reached out and grasped Jasper's neck, rubbing the back of it with her thumb. "Are you okay?" She inquired, applying more pressure with her thumbs, kneading the tense muscles under her fingertips.

"She looks dazed." Amethyst said, dropping the stuff she was holding and inching closer to the larger Gem. She waved her hand in front of her face, and received no reaction from her.

"Jasper!" Lapis shook her lover's shoulders, trying to snap her out of whatever kind of trance she was in.

Jasper dropped the chain and turned to look at Lapis. Was that _fear_ she saw in her eyes?

"Those heavy chains, they reminded me of when we fused, and you drug us into the ocean." Jasper admitted softly, reaching back to grab Lapis' hand and squeeze it. Lapis recalled that moment as well, and frowned. It wasn't something she liked to remember.

"You kind of had it coming, from what I could see, you treated Lapis like garbage. And not like how _I_ treat garbage either." Amethyst said bluntly.

"Amethyst!" Lapis chided her.

"What? I'm just sayin..."

"Look at this!" Jasper ran towards the largest junk pile they had seen yet. Jasper was always surprising Lapis with the way she handled things. She watched Jasper move some junk and pull out half a plate of some pinkish silver armor. In the middle of the breast plate was Rose's symbol. "This is Rose's armor! At least part of it."

"What? I didn't even know that was in here." Amethyst took it from Jasper and held it above her head. She was about to throw in in a different pile, but Jasper grabbed it.

"I think Steven would think this was awesome. Can I give it to him?"

Lapis felt tension growing between the two Gems. She didn't think that Amethyst actually wanted Jasper to be in here going through her things. Let alone let her take something from her piles.

"No, that's mine!"

"It just sits here in a pile all the time, why do you need it?"

Amethyst blushed. She pouted her lips, and crossed her arms.

"What would you know about what Steven would want? You're just a.." Amethyst muttered under her breath.

Lapis could tell that this conversation was going to lead to something terrible happening. Both of these Gems were extremely stubborn, and hot-headed. If left alone for much longer, she foresaw many bad things could happen.

Jasper set the armor down, and huffed.

"This whole gift thing is just pissing me off. Let's just go back." She growled. Lapis nodded, and they turned together, waiting for Amethyst to open the door so they could leave. They waited, but nothing happened.

Amethyst's whip wrapped around Jasper's ankle, and pulled her foot out from under her, causing her to fall and hit her chin against the ground.

"What are you doing!?" Lapis yelled, using her hydrokinesis to cut through the whip around Jasper's ankle. Jasper picked herself up, and faced Amethyst.

"You got a problem, runt?" She taunted, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Yeah, actually I do!" Amethyst answered, pulling another whip out from her gem. She snapped them around Jasper's wrists. Jasper grabbed the gemmed weapon and pulled, the fall of the whip sliced into her flesh, leaving purple stones embedded into her skin. She whipped Amethyst over her head and sent her flying.

Lapis didn't know whether to jump between them, or let them fight. Maybe one of them could knock some sense into the other. Lapis remembered Garnet saying that Amethyst was made in Earth's kindergarten, and that she was the only Gem Rose was able to save from that horrible place. Other than Jasper being an asshole, it was very possible that the purple Gem resented Jasper for being a Homeworld Gem that had something to do with the kindergarten.

"I don't know what you're trying to prove, but I'm not really in the mood to beat your face in. You need to realize this is _not_ a good idea." Jasper licked her open wound, spitting out the gem pieces of Amethyst's weapon.

"Oh, the big bad Homeworld loser is trying to be nice. Why don't you just shut up and put your fists where your mouth is! Don't pretend that you don't want this world to be destroyed!" Amethyst gnarled, pulling two more whips from her gem, and taking a stance.

Lapis was done with this. The two Gems ran at each other, but she grabbed them with hands made of water from the waterfalls in the room, and separated them.

"I get that it must be hard for you to have us here, Amethyst. Especially Jasper, believe me I know she can be a bit... rude..." Lapis couldn't think of a better way to put it. "You didn't have anyone to channel your hate onto, until suddenly Jasper showed up and you finally had someone to blame for the circumstances of your life. That was fine, until we started hanging here, and your anger boiled up to the point of no return. Well I hope you realize that Jasper isn't the one who made that awful place! So, just let it go!"

"I will _never_ let it go." Amethyst shape shifted out of Lapis' grip and ran off deep into the temple. Lapis set Jasper down and sighed deeply.

"That little runt is gonna get it!" Jasper shook the water out of her clothes, and clenched her fists.

"Just let her go, Jasper. We have to get back. I'm sure we've missed the whole party by now."

Together they left the temple. Amethyst must have opened the door before running off. The house was empty and it was completely dark outside. They ventured out on the deck, seeing a large bonfire out on the beach. Everyone was sitting around it, and there were even more people because Steven's human friends had joined the party.

Lapis sat next to Peridot, who had her face glued to Steven's phone. Jasper sat next to Lapis, and pulled her into her lap. Lapis leaned her head back, resting it against the larger Gem's chest. She focused her gaze on the dancing flames, still thinking about Amethyst and her behavior.

Steven came over to them, and sat in Lapis' lap, jerking her from her thoughts. Steven was small, but he wasn't exactly light.

"Well, okay then." She grunted.

"Where did you guys go?" He asked.

"Honestly, we forgot to get you a gift, so Amethyst offered to help us. Then words were said... And now here we are. Oh! Here you go Steven." Lapis explained, pulling the photo out from her top and handing it to the small human boy. He smiled warmly at her.

"Oh, I didn't need anything. I just needed to hang out with my Beach Summer Fun Buddy!"

Lapis smiled at those words and put her arm up to her mouth. She blew air against it, making a fart noise. Everyone giggled, except Jasper, who didn't get it.

An hour passed, and everyone went home. Steven and Lapis stood in the mud, letting the water wash up onto their feet. Moonlight sparkled across their faces, and made the surface of the water glitter beautifully.

Lapis used her powers to manipulate a small blob of water. She made it into different shapes, and Steven laughed guessing what object she made them look like.

"Steven it's bedtime!" Pearl called, standing in the doorway of the Beach House. Lapis shot the water up into the air and made it explode like a glimmering firework. It sprayed down on Steven's face, making him giggle.

"Good Night Lapis!" He said before running off into the house.

"Good night!"

Lapis smiled to herself, and faced the ocean. She couldn't get over how beautiful the moon was. The water lapped at her feet playfully, tempting her to delve into it's darkest depths. She didn't want to leave this spot. She felt like dancing.

Her hand was grasped by a certain Gem's large hand, and held up above her head. She was turned to face the former General, and gazed up into her eyes. Jasper's eyes were intense, the moonlight gleamed off them in a way she couldn't describe with mere words. They danced together, Jasper mainly guiding Lapis' movements, as the sea breeze licked at her skin, and ruffled her hair.

For a moment, they were the only two Gem's that existed. There was no threat of an invasion; there was no responsibilities of learning to live with the Crystal Gems. There was no fighting, or indifference. Their flowing movement was all that mattered, and to Lapis, it was the greatest feeling in the world; to be loved by this larger Gem.

She blushed when Jasper cupped her face with her left hand, staring at her with eyes so full of love, and trust; Lapis could feel her body just meld against the larger Gem's. She allowed herself to smile, gracefully leaning back against the other's hand, which held her so strongly.

Of course the moment couldn't last, they never had more than a few minutes to themselves it seemed. Garnet ran down to them, and Jasper pulled Lapis up into a standing position.

"What?" Jasper was a little more irritated than usual, and snapped at the fusion Gem.

"Amethyst is gone."

 ** _To be Continued~_**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: This chapter contains talk of suicide and dark thoughts.**

JASPER

"Gone? Where would she go?" Lapis asked, leaning against Jasper's leg.

"I can't see her. I have no idea where she went." Garnet sighed.

"Well we should go find her. Jasper, it's your fault she ran off. Why did you say such mean things to her?" Lapis turned to look up at the larger Gem.

Jasper avoided Lapis' gaze. It wasn't her fault that Amethyst was so sensitive to the things she had said. She didn't get why it mattered so much.

"Who cares if she's gone. She's probably off crying somewhere."

"She's a part of our team." Lapis retorted, stepping away from Jasper.

"You mean the Crystal Gems? I am _not_ a Crystal Gem. I just have no where else to go. I won't be a part of some frilly girls club, thanks." She scoffed, crossing her arms in front her chest, and glaring down at Lapis.

"Jasper, I thought we were all in this together."

"Oh you did, huh? That's just like you, looking at the bright side of every situation. Not everything can be all happy and wonderful Lapis! It literally makes me feel sick to my stomach when you try to sugar coat everything, and make it seem better than it really is. Why can't you just let things be?" Jasper hovered over Lapis, a natural thing for her to do when she was feeling argumentative.

Lapis bit her lip and didn't reply.

"Nothing to say to that? Figures. You've always been a Gem with no backbone. Why should I expect you of all people to stand up to me?" Jasper hissed, her voice laced with poison. Garnet grabbed her arm, and she ripped it away. "You know what, I'm sick of this bullshit. I can't do anything right for you Gems. I can't even be myself around you, you expect too much of me. I'm done." Jasper pushed past Garnet and headed towards Steven's house.

"Jasper, wait! Don't go!" Lapis yelled after her.

Jasper stopped, clenching both fists at her side. She reached up and fingered the pendant she still wore around her neck. She couldn't quell her anger. She needed to leave and find a release before she hurt someone. She grasped the cord, and ripped it from her neck; throwing it on the ground before Lapis' feet. Without looking at the blue Gem, she ran into the house.

"Jasper, where are you going?" Peridot asked from her place on the couch. Jasper ignored the green Gem, and tromped over to the warp pad. She stepped up on it, and when she turned, she felt her heart lurch into her stomach.

Lapis had followed her into Steven's house, and had collapsed to her knees on the floor. She watched the ocean Gem put a hand on her chest like she was trying to regulate her breathing. Jasper couldn't stand to see her that way. She called forth the warp stream, and let it take her wherever it may.

She arrived inside what appeared to be the inside of an intricate system of caves and caverns. The walls dripped with water, running down off the stalactites into little puddles on the ground. The large Gem charged at the thickest one, and grabbed it, pushing against it with all her might. She was out of control; she had emotionally hurt Lapis. What was _wrong_ with her? Did she enjoy doing these things to herself?

The stalactite broke, and Jasper fell forward, impaling her shoulder on a sharp mass of minerals jutting up from the floor of the cavern. She howled in pain, even angrier at herself for being so clumsy. She punched the base of the cone shaped mass of rock, and broke it allowing herself to stand once more. She touched where it pierced her flesh, and winced at the pain it brought. She saw a tunnel in front of her, and headed in its direction.

Through the tunnel and a ways down, she came across a room with boiling lava cutting through it, splitting the cavern floor in half. The jump across would be no problem for her. She backpedaled took off with plenty of force. She bent her knees and vaulted herself across the fiery river.

"Pfft. Not even a challenge. What the hell is this place anyway?" She said aloud, tossing her hair back out of her face and smirking to herself. There was an entrance to another tunnel directly in front of her, so she followed it. It was dark, damp, and smelled heavily of decaying Earth. Water dripped down onto her face; the coolness clashed with the heat of her skin. Each droplet stung with an icy coldness, reminding her of the terrible things she had said to Lapis. She must be pretty hurt. She was an idiot. What did that Gem _see_ in her?

 _Loyalty, kindness, courage..._ Those were the things Lapis saw under her outer layer of wrathful pride and detriment to herself. Jasper was so good at throwing things in that Gem's face. She felt a heaviness settle around her heart, like the cold unyielding clutches of heavy metal chains.

Jasper staggered into the wall, sending sharp shooting pains throughout her arm. She had lost a lot of blood. She wasn't going to let that keep her from discovering the secrets of these caverns. She continued down the tunnel, using the glow from her gem to light up the path enough for her to see where she was going.

She started to notice that growing out of the ceiling were strange crystalline pipes. They stretched across and outwards like spiderwebs. She had never seen anything like it before. She started to follow what appeared to be the largest one; seeing that it split from the others down a different tunnel.

As she toiled along, her arm became very heavy at her side. Her regeneration wouldn't kick in with this stake of minerals lodged in her flesh. She was becoming numb to the pain, opting to feel nothing rather than the depression that was starting to sink in. _Depression._ She hadn't even thought of that feeling for several long years. She had been too busy applying herself to her work for the military. She could definitely feel it trying to seep it's way into her mind, to cast its dark ambiance upon her.

Jasper ran her left hand along the tunnel wall, tracing her fingers along the coarse walls of stone. The tunnel finally came to an opening and she entered a large room.

Empty. There was nothing at all interesting about this room. She groaned, standing in the middle of the floor. She attempted to wiggle the fingers of her right hand, but doing so caused her so much pain she nearly blacked out. She felt the wound again, and her fingers grasped stone fragments. She couldn't pull the mineral stake out, or her blood would shoot out of her like something you would see in a horror movie. She looked at the blood on her fingers, seeing small crystals dotted among the red liquid. She groaned, and flicked them away.

At this point she needed to decide if she were going to go back, or to press on. The large crystallized pipe split ahead into three different tunnels. Of course she were going to keep going, returning was not an option at this time. She chose the far left tunnel, due to the pipe being the thickest there.

Her physical body was not going to hold out for too much longer. Her vision was becoming hazy, and she swore she was starting to see streaks of opaque crystal quartz on the wall, running rivers across the stone.

"You did this to yourself you know." A familiar, yet very different voice said in the darkness around her. She leaned against the wall, able to see the entrance of another room. She was unable to will herself to move any farther. The blood-loss made her very weak.

"L-Lapis?" She asked, sliding down the wall, leaving a trail of blood along it. She huddled against the wall, feeling cold and shaking a little.

"I was wrong to believe in you. All _you've_ done is disappoint me. _You_ used me. _You_ kept me prisoner. This is _my_ chance to take revenge."

Jasper's eyes widened when she heard her own words being used against her. She turned her face, and saw Lapis standing there, holding her arm out like she was clutching air in the palm of her hand. Her eyes were glossed over, reflective like mirrors.

"It was always you keeping me trapped like a prisoner. If it wasn't a jail cell, it was your words that kept me here. You made me believe that you actually cared about me..." Lapis put her arm down, and grasped her other arm self-consciously. "I really believed that you loved me. I have never been so wrong."

"I do love you Lapis!" Jasper cried out, reaching for Lapis, but she vanished like a ghost. She reappeared directly in front of her.

"Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Gems stronger, right?" Lapis growled, gripping Jasper's chin tightly. "Yet you used me! You went against everything you believed, and convinced me to fuse with you. Sure, you gave me a choice, but what would you have done if I would have said no? You're a manipulator, and a liar! You're the one who's weak! Those are truly the cheap tactics, General."

Looking into those reflective eyes showed Jasper the fear she had across her own face. Lapis' words pierced her like icy daggers; shredding every thought, every truth she thought she knew about the ocean Gem. She felt terror unlike anything she had ever known.

Yet, deep down, she had this aching feeling that what Lapis said was the truth. She felt it in the depths of her soul; the farthest outreaches of her core. She thought she knew what love was. Maybe what she thought she felt was only a strong feeling of desperation; of needing to be in control.

Her vision blackened, then focused again on Lapis' mirror eyes. She swallowed thickly. The pain in her shoulder felt nothing like the pain she was feeling in her chest.

"Look at you now. Pathetic. Weak. I am _not_ going to be your prisoner anymore!"

Jasper's eyes welled up with tears. Her world was suddenly crashing down around her. The water spilled down her face, and she started to feel like she would be better off if she were gone from this plane of existence.

"I told you that you were my prisoner now, didn't I?" Lapis dug her fingers into Jasper's wound, causing her vision to blacken again, and her voice to howl in discomfort.

Jasper wanted to die. How could she have thought that she loved this Gem, when at this point she couldn't even love herself. The self-loathing she was starting to feel was so unlike her. At least if she died, she would be free from the pains of this physical world.

She felt around the cave floor and discovered a large rock lying next to her. She rolled it around in her fingers, contemplating how easy it would be for her to use it to smash her gem and end her existence.

"Do it." Lapis compelled her, her voice thick like sweet, intoxicating honey. "We would be so much better off without you."

"Is that... What you really think?" Jasper bit her lip, the salty taste of tears entering her mouth.

"Come on, just do it already..."

Jasper rubbed her face with the back of her hand. She looked up towards the ceiling, letting the last stream of tears escape, before raising her hand with the stone gripped tightly in it. The chains on her heart tugged tighter; flashes of herself being drug into the ocean filled her mind, and the feeling of being trapped became unbearable. She slammed her hand down.

A loud crack echoed in the tunnel, and something wrapped around Jasper's wrist, pulling her arm down away from her face. Jasper sunk down the floor even more, until she was laying on her side. She thought she saw the little purple runt slice through Lapis, making her crack and disappear.

"Jasper." Amethyst smacked her face a couple times. "Hey, Earth to Jasper! Ah!"

Jasper's body went limp, and her world went dark.

Xxx

Dreams of strawberry fields and stretches of cobalt blue galaxies filled Jasper's thoughts; before she woke up lying in the middle of a cold stone floor. Her eyelids were heavy, opening slowly to see Amethyst sitting in front of her with her knees to her chest and her arms around them. She reached her left hand over to touch her shoulder. The mineral spear that was lodged in her flesh was gone now, and her wound had scarred over. This also meant that she didn't succeed in ending her life, and she didn't end up retreating into her gem. She sat up, facing the purple Gem.

"What are you doing here?" She muttered, looking for the rock she had earlier.

"Why am _I_ here? Why are _you_ here?" She turned the question back at Jasper.

"I... why did you stop me?" She demanded, turning her stare into a glare at the small purple runt.

"You are an idiot." Amethyst responded.

"It's what she wanted. You're all better off if I'm..."

"Is that what you saw? Is that what torment you were going through?" Amethyst peeked at Jasper through her hair.

"What are you talking about, Lapis was here... She..." Jasper was dumb-struck.

"These caves have a gem that distorts what you're feeling and amplifies them. By a lot. If you come here with any sort of negative feelings, they will become apparitions and torment you until you're driven mad; or worse. You almost killing yourself is what is worse.

Jasper didn't know what to say. "That Lapis... if she was just an apparition.." She felt her shoulder again. "I felt her dig her hand into my wound!"

"I used to think I would be better off dead." Amethyst admitted, and Jasper softened her gaze at this sharing of emotion. "Sometimes, the thought still crosses my mind." The purple Gem turned her eyes down to the ground. "The difference now though, is I have Gems and Steven who truly care about me. I can't leave that kid alone with Garnet and Pearl, are you kidding me? He would never have any fun!"

"But I would be there..."

"Not if you were dead you wouldn't be."

Amethyst was right. She almost offed herself, she wouldn't have been there for Steven if Amethyst were gone, because they would both have been dead. Amethyst scooted closer, and leaned in towards Jasper.

"You can't let _anyone_ make you feel like garbage. Even fake Gem apparitions who look like Lapis. If Lapis really feels that way, or if she doesn't; you'll never know unless you ask her. I've learned the hard way not to assume anything. Assuming only leads to more conflict."

Jasper blushed, and averted the purple Gem's gaze.

"You mean how I made _you_ feel like garbage?" She mumbled.

This time it was Amethyst who blushed.

"Well, I mean... Sometimes I guess we can't help how we feel but... That's why I come here. To remind myself that I'm better than all the things people say about me."

This runt was a lot tougher than Jasper ever thought. Her words helped Jasper feel a little better, but she couldn't help wondering about Lapis' true feelings. The thought of what almost happened a little bit ago was enough to make her panic.

"You know, you and I are a lot more alike than you think." Amethyst stated, breaking Jasper's concentration on her own thoughts.

"Amethyst." She blurted out. "I'm sorry for the things I said to you."

Amethyst blushed, and shrugged her shoulders. "It's whatever. It's in the past."

Jasper looked up at the ceiling, and for the first time today, she was glad to be alive. Her mind was finally clearing from those dark thoughts that infected her mind. Above her on the ceiling was what the crystalline pipes were leading to. It spread across the ceiling like veins from the heart, twisting and turning into a shape that was all too familiar to Jasper these days.

It was shaped like a star.

"What do we do now?" She asked, coughing a little.

"Now we do something I'm all too familiar with. Now, we go back and face the fire."

LAPIS

Lapis held Jasper's pendant between her fingers, rubbing the smooth stone over and over with her thumb. She couldn't stop the tears that refused to stop pouring from her tear ducts. So, she gave up and let them stream down, soaking her top.

She had gone into a stupor when Jasper threw the pendant at her. She tried to go after the orange Gem, but that look in her eyes before she warped away left her paralyzed and confused. She hyperventilated, the feeling of being alone starting to envelope her.

She recalled Peridot hoisting her up and setting her on the couch; comforting her and holding her as she wept into her arm. Garnet tried to talk to her, but she shut her out. Pearl offered to help too, but Peridot had shooed her away.

"Why does she hate me so?" Lapis cried, gripping the sleeve of Peridot's long sleeved jade green shirt she was wearing.

"She doesn't hate you." Peridot raised an eyebrow at this comment.

"Then why did she..." Sniff. "Why did she say those things to me? We are supposed to be a team!"

"If you haven't noticed, Jasper does a lot of stupid shit that no one understands. I don't even think she understands half of what she does."

Lapis buried her face in Peridot's chest, and continued to bawl. Peridot patted her back reassuringly and blushed slightly at her facial placement. She wasn't very good at the whole consoling thing.

"M-Maybe she decided that I'm too sweet for her and now it's killing her!" Lapis sniffed, wiping her nose against Peridot's chest.

"Ew..." Peridot muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing..." Peridot flushed again, hearing those words she had said to Lapis out of anger those weeks ago. "Lapis that's ridiculous..."

"Peri! What did I do wrong?" Lapis wailed.

Peridot gripped her shoulders and forced her to look at her.

"You did absolutely nothing wrong. You can't actually kill someone with kindness Lapis, it just doesn't work that way, okay?"

"But I'm so alone now..."

"Lapis you're never alone. You have me, and the Steven, and that should be reason enough for you to be happy."

Lapis looked up at Peridot's neon green eyes. She never really noticed how pretty they were when the visor covered them. Peridot hadn't worn it in a while, not since she last time she was on the beach fighting with Jasper. Lapis looked away shyly, and rested her face against Peridot's chest again, listening to the fluttering of the green Gem's heart.

The warp pad lit up, and Lapis looked over to see Amethyst and Jasper return. Jasper's shoulder had been brutally injured, and she overall looked terrible. She literally looked like she had been through hell. As far as Lapis was concerned, she deserved whatever torment she endured for the way she was treated.

Lapis felt a surge of emotion flood her being. She was sad that Jasper had hurt her. She was angry that Jasper ran off without talking to her. She was extremely worried about the scar on her shoulder. She was also worried about how she looked, cuddling with Peridot on the couch the way she was; worried that Jasper would take it the wrong way.

Jasper sat on a bar stool in front of the wrap around counter and faced the two Gems on the couch. Lapis watched her rip her shirt at the bottom, and dab her wounded shoulder carefully with the cloth. The large Gem looked tired, and her eyes were slightly red and puffy. Her face was scuffed with dirt, and were those streaks in the dirt from her crying?

Jasper caught Lapis looking at her, holding her gaze.

"If you don't want to talk to me, I understand." Jasper said simply, before walking over to the door and kicking her boots off.

Lapis wanted to talk to Jasper, but she couldn't find the words. She looked away from Jasper, laying her face back against Peridot.

"Okay." Jasper clutched her shoulder and cried out a little. Lapis turned and watched Jasper's eyes glaze over and her body fall to the floor.


	27. Chapter 27

LAPIS

"This is bad..." Garnet said, carrying Jasper into the two Gems' room. Lapis, dragging Peridot with her, followed the fusion Gem. She watched her lay Jasper on their bed.

"What's wrong with her? Why doesn't she just retreat into her gem?" Pearl asked, resituating Jasper's face and fluffing a pillow up behind her head.

Lapis grasped Jasper's hand, and realized it was very cold. She moved her fingers up to the scar on her shoulder, which was now an ugly green color.

"Amethyst... What happened to her shoulder?" She asked.

"She had this stuck in her." Amethyst held up a dark colored mineral lance, which had green cubic crystals growing along the length of it.

"Oh my God, Amethyst! That's torbernite!" Pearl pulled out her weapon and went to hit it out of Amethyst's grip. Garnet grabbed the spear in one hand, and the torbernite in the other. She immediately bubbled away the lance, and snapped Pearl's spear in half causing it to disappear.

"What is toban-ite? The purple Gem asked, completely butchering the word.

"Tor-ber-nite is a radioactive mineral found in granite stone with uranium deposits. It is extremely toxic! Did you say it was lodged in her arm? She's probably infected with radiation poison from breathing in the gas it produces. Or copper poisoning from having it stuck in her arm for so long..." Peridot pulled a small knife from her gem, and hovered it over the wound. Lapis turned away. She didn't want to see what she thought was going to happen next.

Jasper groaned, waking from her slumber. Lapis felt her hand being squeezed gently between her thumb and forefinger.

"Amethyst you are such a clod! You can't just pull a lance from someone and not pull the fragments out! I know you were just trying to help... but this is sloppy and could..." Peridot's voice was hoarse. Lapis turned around to look at the green Gem.

"It could what, Peri?"

"It could cost her her life... The torbernite infects Jasper's body and prevents her from retreating to her gem to heal. It's basically blocking gem magic and making her... mortal."

Jasper's hand clenched tightly, and she howled in pain. Every Gem in that room cringed, including Lapis who's hand was being crushed.

"I didn't know! Jasper, I'm sorry!" Amethyst cried out desperately, grasping Jasper's other hand. Jasper turned her face towards her.

"It's okay Amethyst..." She barely whispered, upsetting Amethyst even more.

Peridot pulled torbernite fragments from Jasper's shoulder, and Garnet immediately bubbled them away. She pulled the largest one out, and Lapis cringed at the look on Jasper's face. The larger orange Gem's face was contorted so wickedly with pain; she could feel her heart ache. She would do anything to be able to take her pain from her. Jasper's brow was full of sweat; her body was trying to fight the infection and Lapis noticed she was shaking.

"There's nothing more I can do for her tonight." Peridot squeezed Lapis' arm, and shooed everyone out of the room. The temple door closed behind her, and Lapis was left alone with the Gem who had hurt her feelings a few hours ago. That moment had now seemed so far away; all that mattered was what was happening in the present.

Lapis climbed into the bed next to Jasper and cuddled her, resting her cheek against her chest. Jasper responded by laying her arm along Lapis' side comfortingly.

"Lapis..." Jasper whispered, caressing the bare skin of her stomach with her thumb. "I have to ask you something."

"Don't speak Jasper, you'll waste your energy. You're going to need all the strength you can muster to heal from this."

"Do you detest me for keeping you a prisoner?"

Lapis furrowed her brows. Such a thought hadn't crossed her mind since Peridot's ship crashed onto the Earth.

"Maybe at first." She admitted softly. "But it's been _my_ choice to stay with you since we first formed Malachite. Why are you asking me this?"

Jasper bit her lip and leaned her head back against her pillow. Large fat tears escaped her already swollen eyes. Lapis was astonished by this extreme display of depression that darkened her lover's face. She reached up and cupped her small hand against Jasper's cheek.

"Is that why you're acting so different? You... think that I... secretly hate you?"

Lapis listened while Jasper went on to explain what exactly had happened to her in the caverns where she found Amethyst. The recollection of events made Lapis' heart feel heavy with sorrow. Jasper had wanted to end her life, because an apparition of herself made the orange Gem believe that what she felt for Lapis wasn't love, but a crazy feeling of desperation and needing to be in control. What a terrible place to have been, Lapis couldn't imagine feeling that way. She knew Jasper loved her, she had never doubted that fact.

"You need to understand something right now Jasper, so please listen to me. I. Love. You. I'm in love with you. What I feel in my heart is so real, and so fantastic, I wish you could feel it as well. Then you would never have any doubts. Don't you ever turn your back on me like you did today. Don't shut me out like my opinion means nothing to you. I deserve your time and your undivided attention. I can't lose you... I'll be alone again..." She buried her face into the crook of Jasper's neck and started to sob uncontrollably.

"Lapis..." Jasper squeezed her tightly, holding her close with her stronger arm. "Of course you do... It's a little ironic now that I want to be alive... this happens..."

"You... You and I were... suppose- supposed to..." She sobbed incoherently, already feeling so angry at herself for acting the way she did. She cursed herself silently for having the audacity to wish any sort of punishment onto the orange Gem.

She felt Jasper's hand caressing the teardrop gem embedded in her back. The simple touch elicited goosebumps down her arms.

"I'm so sorry Lapis." Jasper whispered to her. Her eyelids were starting to droop. "I want to sleep now..." She closed her eyes, and fell immediately to sleep. Lapis listened for her breathing, and sighed in relief when she heard it. She herself cuddled in Jasper's arm and also let herself fall asleep.

Xxx

Lapis trudged out of the temple room, seeing the four other Gems gathered on the couch; they seemed to be engaged in a deeply heated conversation with each other. She stopped and hid behind the wall.

"There's nothing else we can do, Peridot. Please, try to understand that we don't know what else to even try. None of us have ever had to deal with this kind of situation before. When our physical bodies are hurt, we retreat to our gems. That was that." Pearl hissed angrily at the green Gem.

"It's like you Gems don't even care. We've been here long enough to prove we belong here, yet you abandon one of us when we need you the most." Peridot spat back at the snooty Gem.

"Why you..."

"Pearl. Peridot. Calm down." Garnet put a firm grip onto their shoulders. She turned to Peridot. "We do care about Jasper. There's just nothing we can do to help her."

"So you're just going to give up and let her die!" Peridot slammed Steven's phone down on the table, shattering the screen, and nicking her hand. She turned towards the temple door and froze when she saw Lapis standing there.

"What about Steven? He has healing powers!" Lapis swallowed thickly. Her mouth was dry, and her heart was throbbing against her chest.

"We don't want to involve Steven. He's too young to have to sit here and watch someone die." Pearl looked towards the front door which had opened, bringing Steven and Lion inside.

"Involve me in what?" Steven asked, looking at the five Gems with deep concern on his face.

"Nothing, Steven." Pearl smiled nervously at him, waving her hand at him. "What were you doing today?"

Steven made eye contact with Lapis, who couldn't hide her emotions from him. She fell to her knees and cried into her skirt. He was startled by this, and ran to her.

"What's wrong Lapis?" He asked her gently. She bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ear. Without warning she grabbed Steven and Peridot's hands, and booked it into her shared temple room before anyone could object. She shut the door, barring the other three from entering.

Lapis gently walked Steven over to Jasper's bed. Her left arm had slid down, hanging off the bed at a weird angle. Steven took it, and held it. After staring at Jasper for a couple minutes he started to blubber a little.

"What's wrong with her? She looks terrible!"

Lapis explained to him nearly everything that Jasper had shared with her earlier about the cave. She left out the part where she tried to kill herself, thinking he wouldn't be able to handle that sort of knowledge right now. She could hardly handle it herself.

"So there are poisonous gems that can affect you?" Steven asked while he climbed up onto the bed for a better look at Jasper's shoulder.

"On Earth there are many things that can kill you. For Gems, having shards trapped in your body from any kind of gem material is torturous and painful. Especially when those shards are radioactive and extremely toxic." She explained, watching him carefully.

Jasper opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Steven.

"Hey kid." She tussled his hair.

Steven hugged her, the scene was so touching it made Lapis start crying again.

"M-Maybe I can heal you..." He licked his hand and placed it against the large Gem's shoulder. They waited. Lapis bit her nails furiously. Peridot twisted the fabric of her shirt in her hands. Steven cried like a baby.

"It was worth a try kid." Jasper turned Steven's face to look at her. "Thank you. For everything."

"D-Don't you dare start saying your good-byes Jasper! You know how cheesy that is right?" Lapis shrieked, and Peridot put her arms around her, holding her tightly.

"Don't go Jasper... So many of us still need you..." Steven cried, putting his hand against her cheek.

Lapis watched her take his hand and look him directly in his eyes.

"Steven, remember that night when we sat in the window together and watched the storm? You asked me if the reason I wanted to help you protect the Earth was because of Lapis. I never truly answered your ques-" Jasper screeched painfully, arching her back against the bed violently.

"Her liver must be shutting down as we speak. Her heart can't take any more poison..." Peridot whispered softly to herself.

"Jasper!" Steven cried out.

"Steven, I wanted to protect _you,_ and all my friends. Lapis, and Peridot... The giant strawberry fields... I wanted to protect you because I've grown to love you... Steven..." Jasper's voice faded out, and her eyes lost their luster. She was gone.

"No!"

Lapis' screams echoed violently in the chamber. A portal appeared, and Steven's pet Lion appeared. It nudged its nose against Jasper's arm, and looked at Steven intensely.

"I understand."

JASPER

Floating. Jasper was floating in a sea of starlight in the vast ocean of space. Or at least that's what it felt like.

" _We aren't so different you and I, and I hope you come to understand that one day."_ A beautiful, serene voice tickled against her ear drums. Those were the last words Rose Quartz had said to her 6,000 years ago.

She opened her eyes, and she was standing face to face with her old enemy. Rose Quartz stood in front of her, like a reflection in a mirror. Jasper could only stare at her large, bouncy pink locks, and her soft pale pallor her skin. Her warm, motherly appearance clashed with Jasper's wild, intense look. They were literally the complete opposite of each other.

"Rose?"

" _It took you 6,000 years, but you finally understand now, don't you?"_ The placid pink Gem responded.

"I never would have figured it out without you, honestly. Or without Lapis. Without her I never would have met that little.." She blushed, reforming the words in her mind and actually trying to think before speaking. "I never would have met your son."

" _He's amazing. He's everything I wanted him to be, Jasper. He was able to melt your heart and let you see through eyes untainted by the darkness of the Diamond Authority. Now **that** is pretty amazing."_

"Rose, you believed in me from the beginning. I want to know why."

Rose chuckled softly, reaching out and putting her hands on Jasper's shoulders. _"I saw myself in your eyes, Jasper. I saw myself, and I softened my gaze towards you on that fateful day. You were fighting strongly for your beliefs, just as I was for mine. You may not have cared for your enemies, but many a Gem was destroyed by my hand that day as well. You encouraged your comrades, bringing them strength and determination; you led them the best that you could. Just like I did. That's when I knew you were just like me, but tainted."_

" _Garnet saw the incoming attack from Yellow Diamond's ship before it hit the atmosphere. That cold, non-discriminatory laser-beam that destroyed all the Gem's on Earth, except for Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, myself, and you... Being destroyed so carelessly infected and renewed gems, turning them into monsters. She figured she'd come back in a couple thousand years, when the monsters destroyed the majority of the human race."_

"But you were there to protect it."

" _I was there to protect it, yes."_

"I..."

Rose embraced Jasper just then, filling her with what she believed to be the absolute essence of warmth and love.

" _They're waiting for you Jasper."_ Rose's eyes welled with tears; tears that overflowed down her face and onto Jasper's body. _"They need you to protect them because I can't be there for them."_

xxx

Jasper's eyes fluttered open. She was looking up at the brightest blue sky she had ever seen. Above her was a large flower shaped pedestal, and a statue of Rose Quartz stood on top of it. Her eyes were flowing with pink tears, filling this area up with her lacrimal essence.

Her shoulder was completely healed. She felt invigorated, and renewed. She felt... happy. She sat up and scanned her surroundings, spotting Lapis sitting on the edge of the fountain she figured she was sitting it.

"Lapis Lazuli!" She called, gaining an immediate reaction from the blue Gem. She whipped her face around and gasped like she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Y-You're alive!" She ran at Jasper, who caught the smaller Gem in a tight embrace. Her face was grasped, prodded, and poked until Jasper scowled at Lapis.

"Yes, I'm alive."

"We all thought it was too late. Why the Crystal Gems didn't bring you here immediately, we will never know. Peridot and I didn't know this place existed... Then Steven's Lion brought you, me and Steven here. You've been laying there in the fountain for hours."

"Sh..." Jasper soothed her, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Jasper..." Lapis hovered her lips over the larger Gems.

"Hm?"

"I'm never letting you go, again."

 **Author's Note: That was one of the heaviest couple of chapters I think I've ever written. In case any of you are wondering about this shift in Jasper's character... No she's not going to become a frilly happy starchild; but I don't think she'll ever doubt Lapis or Steven's love for her ever again! Sqeeee!**

 **Even brute's like Jasper need love and fuzzy feelings.**


	28. Chapter 28

JASPER

Jasper felt like a new Gem. Life now, could not be any better. Her relationship with Lapis had never been better. Her and Peridot had their days together to hang out, and she especially loved training days with Garnet. The fusion Gem was the only one that could match her physical strength and give her a challenging work out. Sparring was a way for them to bond, when sometimes words weren't enough to express how they felt.

Today Jasper was jogging around Beach City, just to get out and have a breath of fresh air. She paid no mind to any of the humans; except when she saw Sadie, she smiled and waved at her. Sadie returned the gesture and watched her run off towards Steven's house.

She entered a silent house. The atmosphere felt thick with tension, and she could now see why. Pearl was in a dance stance, opposite of Lapis. Jasper couldn't peel her eyes away as the two synchronized their movements and performed a beautiful dance.

"See, Steven, it's not so hard." Pearl said while dipping Lapis toward the floor, holding her there, then pulling her back up gracefully.

"Let me try!" Steven said, taking over Pearl's place next to Lapis. Jasper couldn't help but smile at the kid's tenacity. She took a seat on the floor next to Peridot, who looked as tense as ever.

"What is all this?" She asked the green Gem, picking at the dirt underneath her fingernails.

"Dance practice." Peridot responded sharply.

She looked at Peridot and shook her head. She kept forgetting about Peridot's stupid sensitivity to fusion. She was legitimately surprised that the green Gem was even sitting there watching dance practice.

"Peridot, why don't you come up here and try?" Lapis held her hand out towards Peridot and gave her a warm smile. Peridot's face turned a forest green color, and she rose from the floor. She turned towards the front door and left, looking stiff and almost robotic. Jasper chuckled a little from the confused look on Lapis' face.

"I got this." Jasper stood and followed Peridot outside. She saw Peridot standing on the shore, gazing at the waves lapping at her feet. She walked right up to her old cohort and took her hands into her own; turning Peridot around to face her.

"What are you doing." Peridot asked with a monotonous tone.

"Dance with me."

"What. Absurd."

"You owe me a dance. I swear to everything if you ditch me again, I'll kill you."

Peridot seemed to weigh her options against one another, before sighing and taking Jasper's other hand. Jasper pulled Peridot closer, and put a hand behind the green Gem's back, the other hand still held Peridot's.

Jasper led them in just a simple slow dance, letting Peridot adjust to the idea of dancing. She twirled Peridot gently, and pulled her close again. Peridot's feet caught on each other and she tripped.

"Careful." Jasper said, catching Peridot and steadying her on her feet.

"I don't want to dance anymore." Peridot stated simply while dusting herself off.

"Fine." Jasper grunted, bowing to her before going back up to the house. She wasn't about to let that uptight little nerd ruin her mood. She was only trying to be nice.

Pearl and Lapis were dancing again, while Steven sat and watched. Pearl's classic ballet style dance went very well with Lapis' fluid water-like style of dancing. Jasper couldn't help but think that they would make a great fusion. This made her feel jealous. She walked past Steven, and swept Lapis off her feet, to Pearl's dismay; spinning the ocean Gem around playfully before setting her down in front of the warp pad.

"Whoa, my turn!" Steven laughed, holding his arms up towards Jasper, indicating that he wanted to be picked up.

Jasper grinned, and picked the small boy up. She spun them around a few times. He laughed happily before he suddenly covered his mouth and made a gagging noise. She quickly set him down on his feet and he ran off towards the bathroom.

"What's wrong with him?" She asked, looking to Pearl.

"He... get's sick when he spins. We had this teacup incident once..."

"I get it." She interrupted, scratching her head.

KNOCK KNOCK

Amethyst hopped off the couch and opened the door, letting Connie in.

"Hello everyone! How are you all? It's been a while since I last saw you guys! Where's Steven?" Connie asked, searching around for her friend.

"Steven is releasing his stomach contents in the washroom. He should be with you momentarily. Lapis," Pearl turned to address the blue Gem, "would you care to join me in my room to dance more? I really enjoy your fluidity, and I think we can really get our synchronization down."

"Um..." Lapis looked to Jasper, like she was waiting for her approval.

Jasper couldn't help but feel envious. Dancing leads to fusion, and fusion was very personal for her now. She understood that they would probably need fusion to fight against Yellow Diamond and her army, and if Jasper were somehow incapacitated, Lapis would need to be able to protect herself...

"Jasper?" Lapis spoke a little louder, snapping Jasper out of her thoughts.

"Oh uh, do whatever..."

Lapis shrugged at this answer, and followed Pearl into her temple room. Jasper waited for the door to close, and went up to it. She just about opened her room when she felt two tiny hands take hold of her index finger and thumb. She looked down to see Steven and Connie, who were looking at her with stars in their eyes.

"Yes...?"

"Garnet and Amethyst are leaving on a mission, so that leaves Peridot, you, Connie and I to play this new game Dad got me!" Steven said, holding up a game case with two mustachioed men wearing red and green sitting in little cars.

Peridot reentered the house just then, looking a little shocked that people were still in the living room. Jasper, Connie, and Steven all turned to look at her.

"Don't you clods have anything better to do than stare at me?" She blushed, crossing her arms.

"Peridot, seriously, we get that you don't like dancing and fusion and stuff, but your crappy attitude is really starting to piss me off. Now please, _God did I just say please?_ " Jasper gasped, seeing Steven nod at her in approval. She gagged a little at the thought.

"What is _that_?" Peridot's entire demeanor changed when she saw the new video game in Steven's hands.

Steven looked down at the game.

"It's a racing game that just came out, I thought the four of us could play."

Peridot grabbed the game out of his hands and put it in the game console up on Steven's loft. Jasper reached up and pulled down a large screen that Peridot had suspended from the ceiling, so they wouldn't have to lug around the flat screen T.V back and forth from Jasper's room. Peridot had it all set up so that the T.V fed video into a projector from the ceiling, and audio into two large speakers down on the main floor.

They played for three hours straight.

"I swear to everything I hold dear, including my robonoids, if you guys throw another blue shell at me... I've been in 1st place every match, and then the last lap I explode because of that damned item..." Peridot complained, leaning into the controller. Her eyes were intensely fixated on the screen in front of her.

"Well... It's too late for that." Steven laughed maniacally, tapping his item button to send a blue shell of death towards the 1st place racer. The spiky blue shell ended up blowing up both Peridot and Jasper's characters, causing Jasper to throw the controller aside in defeat.

"I give up! You nerds are too good for me." She groaned.

"Awe, but you were doing good!" Steven whined at her.

"I honestly thought that you were spot on with your item usage, but Jasper, you should try a heavier racer next time. The smaller ones are good at acceleration, but are easily knocked off the tracks. The heavy ones push the little ones around and have more overall speed." Connie readjusted her glasses, a creepy grin adorning her face.

"Um... I just like to play them all..." Jasper ran her hand through her hair. All this video game lingo was confusing her. She didn't really care about the technicalities of the game.

She stood up on the couch, and reached for the T.V remote in Steven's loft. She plopped back down, making the other three go airborne a little. She changed the input on the T.V to cable, and started flipping through the channels. Sports, more sports, comedy, dramas, romance...

"Stop!" Steven blurted out excitedly.

Jasper put the remote down next to her and watched the screen curiously. There was a handsome looking man on the it, and he was setting the table with flowers, dishes, fancy wine glasses, and an assortment of food.

"It is so cute how Clyde is setting that all up for Anna." Connie sighed, grabbing her own cheeks.

"I think it's sweet too, you can tell he really cares about her."

"I don't get what the big deal is." Jasper scoffed, folding her arms across her chest.

"Haven't you ever taken Lapis on a date before?" Connie asked, turning to look up at her.

"A date?" The whole concept was completely foreign to the orange Gem.

"Yeah, a date! Dinner and a movie? A walk on the beach during a beautiful sunset? A trip to the park to watch the birds together?" Steven exclaimed, his eyes were sparkling thinking of the possibilities.

"That stuff all sounds completely ridiculous." Peridot jeered, throwing in her opinion.

"Oh my gosh. We need to figure out a date for you guys!"

"I have seen so many romantic dramedies; I'm 99% positive we can come up with the perfect date." Connie stood up, and looked at Jasper with a huge smile on her face.

"How about... not. You two are really kinda freaking me out." Jasper felt her mouth go dry. Little beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. These two kids were creeping her out.

"Awe, but Jasper. After everything that's happened you should do something to make Lapis feel... special." Steven said, also standing up next to Connie.

"She already knows how I feel about her."

"But don't you think she'd appreciate it?" Connie twiddled her thumbs. "I know _I_ would appreciate it. Sometimes people just need a reminder that you care about them. It doesn't hurt anything..."

Jasper thought about it for a moment, and it made her feel a sad. Lapis and her hardly do stuff together. Sure there was the usual bedroom stuff, the occasional dance, the talking... But Lapis meant so much more to her than all that. These kids were right. She looked at the two children, and made eye contact with Steven.

"Let's do it. But not that super corny stuff you mentioned. I have a better idea."

LAPIS

"No, please stop." Lapis stopped the dance. Pearl and her had synchronized perfectly. So perfectly that they had almost fused. When she realized it was happening, her mind screamed at her to stop, and her body tensed up, like it didn't want her to continue. It didn't feel right, it felt like... Like she was betraying Jasper.

"I don't understand. We were perfectly synchronized, why did you stop the fusion?" Pearl asked, giving her a look of deepened concern.

"I'm sorry, I can't..." Lapis turned from her and squatted down, looking at her reflection in the water beneath them.

"Just because a fusion happens, doesn't mean... Oh the thought is just so silly... Lapis if you only want to fuse with Jasper, that's your decision. All you had to do was say so. Of course that really limits our power, but I suppose there's nothing that can be done about that... It's so uncommon for Gem's to be this sensitive about fusion... None of us have a problem with fusing.. But then stuff like Sugilite happens... You Homeworld Gems can be so odd..." Pearl droned, on and on.

Lapis felt so embarrassed. She summoned the water around her and carried herself down to the temple door. Pearl waved her hand and it opened for her.

She stepped out into a dark room. Where was everyone? She took a step and to each side of her candles of deep blue color lit up, with flickering bright blue flames.

"Huh?"

She took another step and more candles lit, the colors ranging from deep ocean blues, to the bright baby blues of the sky. She followed the path, happily watching the entire house light up with candles. They led her out the front door, and down onto the beach, fizzling out by a small pier.

"Hello?" She asked, stepping carefully down towards the pier. The Crystal Gem's boat; the 'Gem Sloop' was there, knocking gently against the wood. She approached it carefully.

"You made it."

Lapis' face lit up. Jasper was sitting in the boat, and she looked... polished. Her hair was tamed way down, and pulled into a beautiful side braid. The larger Gem stood to greet her, giving Lapis an opportunity to observe the rest of her. Jasper was wearing an ankle length maroon colored sleeveless jacket, only buttoned down to her naval. From what she could see, she was also wearing darker, Mahogany colored pants, resembling her old military attire. She was even wearing her boots. Lapis thought that it fit together, and that she looked nice.

"I've never seen you all dressed up." Lapis admitted, still taking it all in.

"Eh... Connie... did my hair and helped me with my outfit. This is much better than what she originally tried to put me in... I almost hit that child..." Jasper chuckled a little, and put a hand on her hip. "A dress with these muscles?"

Lapis covered her mouth and giggled, the idea of Jasper in a dress really was quite funny.

"But why? What's the occasion?"

"Come." Jasper replied, holding her hand out to her, which Lapis gladly took. She hopped down into the boat, and sat on a small bench opposite of Jasper. She watched as the orange Gem untied the boat from the pier and used gem magic to will it out to sea. It was after all, a Gem boat.

Once the horizon line of Beach City disappeared, Lapis felt her eyes adjust to seeing the ocean around her bathed in starlight.

"Where are we going?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the moon hanging delicately in the sky.

Jasper didn't reply, only smiled to herself as she studied Lapis' moonlit face.

Suddenly the boat stopped, and Lapis lurched forward into Jasper, causing the orange Gem to drop the small box she was holding into the ocean.

"Ah! No... It took me forever to find that..." Jasper growled, looking over the edge of the boat into the black water.

"No worries!" Lapis bent over the edge of the boat and dipped her hand into the water. Her gem glowed, and using her hydrokinesis she pulled the small back box from the sea and cupped it in her hands. Curiosity nudged her in the stomach, but she handed the small box back to Jasper.

Jasper tucked it into her front pocket, and put her hands on her knees.

"Lapis, I brought you out here because um... The weather was perfect and... Ugh... I'm no good at this..."

"Jasper, just be yourself. That's all I've ever wanted." Lapis said softly, taking one of the larger Gem's hands into her own.

"Oh, I'll just show you."

Jasper pulled the small box out of her pocket again and opened it. Lapis' eyes lit up at the sight of a million different colors sparkling in one blood red stone. She watched as Jasper held it in her palm, and allowed Lapis to look at it.

"This is an non-sentient Earth gem called Fire Opal. It's pretty, right? Well, watch this." Jasper clutched it tightly in her fist and stood up. She threw it towards the sky as hard as she could, her gem giving off a very faint yellow light.. Lapis had to admit, she was saddened to see such a pretty stone disappear.

And then the night sky was lit up in the brilliance of a million rainbow colored falling stars. She stood up eagerly, holding her hands out towards the stars.

"Oh my gosh, Jasper!" She couldn't help how excited she sounded; a wide grin spread out across her face. She caught a few glittering holographic embers in her hand, before they disappeared back into darkness. "It's beautiful! How did you know it would do that?"

"Peridot." Jasper coughed, and cleared her throat.

Lapis' wrists were gripped tightly, and her lips disappeared under Jasper's for a moment. The larger Gem pulled back a little, looking deeply into her eyes. Those yellow orbs were radiant; the colors of the shattered Fire Opal blazed in rainbow flickers across her eyes.

"I appreciate you, Lapis." Jasper said quietly, tucking Lapis' hair behind her ear.

"What?" She asked, taking in a sharp breath. What an odd thing to say.

"I just wanted you to know that everything you've done for me, I haven't forgotten about it. I wanted to do something nice for you, to show you that I... care about you. I think Steven called it a... date?"

Lapis giggled at the thought.

"I'm honestly surprised nothing has happened to end this moment."

"Mm... I could think of something better to do, than think about that." Jasper whispered, kissing Lapis again and nibbling on her bottom lip. Her heart skipped a beat at the larger Gem's touch, anticipation sending shivers down her spine.

She felt the larger Gem's warm breath against her neck before being embraced tightly. One of Jasper's hands gripped her hip tightly, while the other slowly pulled at the ribbon keeping her top on. Lapis let the fabric fall, pressing her body against the larger Gem's. They laid down together on the floor of the boat. Their bodies entangled in a familiar dance, as the remnants of the Fire Opal slowly faded away.

Xxx

Lapis slowly came to in the morning, tangled up in Jasper's arms. She saw shredded pieces of fabric strewn about the boat, but her glittery ribbon was tied in Jasper's hair. She raised an eyebrow at the state of her surroundings, as a blush rose the the surface of her cheeks; memories of the previous night flooded her mind.

Her eyes gazed upon her lover, following the trails of red-orange stripes across her naked body. Jasper was curled in an almost fetal like position, and she looked to Lapis the most vulnerable she had ever seen her. She laid back down and nuzzled her face against the other's breast; they were the worlds best pillows after all.

The peace after a passion-filled night did not last long. The boat suddenly started to rock violently, and a loud booming sound jarred Jasper out of her sleep. They both sat up and groaned, rubbing their temples.

"What the hell was that..." Jasper asked, scanning the horizon.

There was a loud splash near them, something had crashed into the ocean, nearly tipping the boat over onto its side. The two of them quickly shape-shifted crisp and clean outfits on themselves, and Jasper steered the boat back towards the shore with haste. Lapis gently pulled her ribbon out of Jasper's hair and tied it securely around her own waist. She was happy to see that even when they were drunk with passion, this little gift had survived.

They were a mile out from the shore still, and Lapis could feel that something wasn't right. She focused her eyes towards Beach City and gasped. Three large Plug Robonoids could be seen scattered along Beach City, destroying buildings and squirting what appeared to be acidic goop along the ground. Deep fissures appeared where the goop ate away the elements.

The boat reached the pier and Lapis saw that the Crystal Gems were no where to be seen, and that Steven's house was half destroyed. A Plug Robonoid tumbled from the desecrated building, joining Jasper and Lapis on the beach. Lapis didn't get to say anything before Jasper ran off, summoning her Crash Helmet. Lapis' heart was racing at the sight. She felt nauseous, and she was in shock. Yellow Diamond had finally made her move.

"Lapis, behind you!" Jasper shrieked.

Lapis felt a weapon of some kind shoved through her back, between her ribs and up right below her sternum. She could feel that it had narrowly missed her heart. She fell to her knees and stared at the bloodstained blade, unable to process what had just happened to her.

"LAPIS!" Jasper screamed. Lapis could see the orange Gem lunging for her, but she couldn't reach out for her, because her hand disintegrated and she retreated into her gem.

JASPER

Jasper was blinded by a sudden burst of rage built up in her chest, and exploding in full force. She couldn't get to Lapis' gem, when she tried, the robonoid behind her reached a tendril out and wrapped around her foot, pulling her down into the sand. She had to reach her. She had to protect her...

There was something about these robonoids that were different. They weren't like the ones Peridot had sent to Earth. These ones were larger, stronger, and spat out acid, not fun goop that fixed Gem tech. Her head was slammed against the ground, and the tendrils held her down, while the marble robot aimed its turret at her. This was it then, she was going to be beaten by this stupid piece of machinery. Her physical strength wasn't enough to rip out of it's grip.

She closed her eyes, and pictured Lapis' face, choosing to remember that cute smile of hers, rather than the horrible agony she was sure she was about to endure. She heard the turret shoot, but never felt it on her. She opened her eyes to see a large pink bubble surrounding her, protecting her from the goop. It had landed on its own tendrils, breaking the large Gem free.

"Steven!" Jasper hoisted herself up, and picked the small boy up, who looked like he was absolutely exhausted. The robot slammed its suspended leg down, trying to crush the two of them under it. Jasper tumbled out of the way, holding Steven close to her, to protect him.

"HOW DARE SHE!"

Jasper dusted herself off, and saw Peridot on the deck, screaming furiously at the Plug Robonoid. She also looked beat up and dirty, and extremely pissed off.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU HAD THE GALL TO STEAL MY CREATIONS FOR YOUR OWN DISGUSTING PURPOSES. THESE ARE _MY_ ROBOTS, AND THEY'RE NOT MEANT TO BE WAR MACHINES!" Peridot's gem glowed, and she pulled an EMP bomb from her gem, and set it on the ground. "DIE!"

The bomb sent out an electromagnetic pulse, hitting the robots and causing them to fall to the ground like scrap metal.

 _Lapis._

Jasper turned to where Lapis' Gem was supposed to be in the sand, but it wasn't there.

"Are you looking for something?"

Jasper whipped her body around towards the city.

"Yellow Diamond." She growled.

 ** _Mario Kart and date idea from a Guest in my reviews. Don't you hate it when you're in first place and that damned blue shell destroys your entire soul? Mario Kart kills friendships, almost as bad as Mario Party._**

 ** _This chapter might feel a little off, because I was having a terrible time transitioning from super angsty chapter to fluffier, light-hearted chapter. Then I realized.. Holy crap how long has it been since Peridot said Yellow Diamond was coming? I better get on that. Haha, sorry you guys don't need to read this I'm just being weird._**


	29. Chapter 29

JASPER

Yellow Diamond held Lapis' tear shaped gem out between her middle finger and thumb. There was blood smeared across the sparkly blue gem, and a smirk across Yellow Diamond's face.

"You don't understand how easy it would be for me to just crush this Gem, right here and right now." She hissed, pulling Lapis' gem back into her tightened grip.

Jasper couldn't argue with that logic. Yellow Diamond was a cold-hearted bitch, master of 1,000 weapons and many different fighting styles. She was very strong in offense; her diamond armor made up for the lack of defensive strategies she didn't think she needed. What could Jasper possibly do now to help Lapis?

"Nothing to say to me, traitor?" Yellow Diamond spat, drawing a short sword from her gem.

"L-Leave Jasper alone! Give us back Lapis!" Steven yelled, wiggling from Jasper's loosened grip. He placed himself between the two large Gems, and Jasper could see he was shaking.

"Steven, back up!" Peridot screeched, jumping down off the deck and taking a stance next to Jasper.

"What is this? You think you can stand up to me?" Yellow Diamond scoffed, her voice thick with disgust.

"Don't you worry about him." Jasper said, repositioning herself in front of Steven and holding her fists up. "You keep your focus on me!"

"Fine. Your bare hands will be beautifully stained with the color of your own blood."

Peridot pulled Steven back towards the house, and out of the way. Good thing too, because the force of Yellow Diamond's sword clashing against Jasper would have left Steven a flattened human pancake.

Narrowly dodging Yellow Diamond's piercing thrusts, Jasper hopped out of the way to create some distance between them. Before her eyes, the Commander's sword changed into a long, yellow whip covered with sharp diamond shards. The very same whip that lapped at her flesh as punishment for stopping Yellow Diamond from hitting Lapis back on Homeworld. Yellow Diamond snapped her whip, and it caught Jasper around her left arm.

"Jasper!" Steven cried out, causing her to look in his direction.

"I thought I trained you better, Jasper. Never let your guard down!" Yellow Diamond tugged hard on the whip, pulling Jasper down into the sand.

Jasper lifted herself enough to see Yellow Diamond's boot connect with her face . She heard and felt her jaw crack; the force of the kick caused her to roll over onto her back. The yellow Gem's whip changed into a battle axe, and she could see it held high above her head.

Steven ran in front of Jasper, and his gem glowed. His mother's shield appeared on his arm, and he blocked Yellow Diamond's ruthless assault.

"Jasper, you have to get up!" He groaned. "You have to!"

Jasper cracked her jaw back into place, the taste of blood filled her mouth. She rolled onto her hands and knees. Steven's shield cracked, and Jasper grabbed him by the ankle and slid him backwards as the axe connected with the sand.

"Ah, so you have Rose Quartz's power, but yet you're not Rose Quartz. How very interesting." Yellow Diamond hit her axe against the back of her hand, creating brass knuckles that were all too familiar to the orange Gem. She watched as Yellow Diamond pulled a small device from inside her armor, and pressed a button.

"This is Yellow Diamond. Prepare my ship."

"You haven't won yet." Jasper groaned, picking herself up. Her body felt weak, but she couldn't give up.

"I'm tired of these games. You're just not a challenge anymore Jasper. You've gone soft, and it shows in your fighting. You could never hope to defeat me." With blindingly fast speed, Yellow Diamond was suddenly in front of Jasper with her hand gripped tightly around her neck.

Jasper felt the pressure cut off her air supply as she gripped Yellow Diamond's arm with both of her hands. Her former Commander brought Jasper to her knees, and she felt her body drastically start to weaken.

"Ah..." Yellow Diamond inhaled deeply through her nose, and locked gazes with the orange Gem. "I just wanted you to know that you really were my favorite pawn. The fact that you allowed yourself to stoop to their level of weakness, really _sickens_ me. What a shameless little act you've put on for these Gems. I know the real you, after all."

Jasper's vision became blurry; she could hardly see as Yellow Diamond extended her hand with Lapis' gem in it.

"I've been tossing a couple ideas around in my head about how I want you to spend your last moments of existence. Quick and painless? Or maybe I should wait for this Gem to reform and torture her before your very eyes; watching you slowly break... _Piece by Piece..._ "

"L-Leave her alone..." She stuttered.

Yellow Diamond released a very evil sounding cackle from her gut. Jasper's lungs suddenly filled with air, as Yellow Diamond released her grip on her throat. Jasper fell against the hot sand, hardly able to see what had caused her to release her so easily.

There was a little flask robonoid on the ground, and she fixated her gaze upon it. A couple more robonoids landed on the ground next to the first.

"HEY!" Peridot yelled while throwing her dead robonoids at Yellow Diamond.

"Ah, another traitorous piece of scum. I had forgotten about you for a moment there, Peridot." With her whip drawn, Yellow Diamond grabbed Peridot around the waist and brought her down from her perch on the deck and into the sand. In one fell sweep, her diamond encrusted blade pierced the green Gem through her back. Yellow Diamond walked away, leaving the sword in her.

"Peridot..." Jasper groaned, reaching her hand towards the green Gem.

Steven ran to Peridot and pulled the sword out of Peridot's body, causing her to retreat to her gem. He put her in his pocket and pointed the sword towards Yellow Diamond. Jasper was amazed at how brave this human child was, even though she could plainly see how absolutely terrified he was at the same time.

Yellow Diamond pulled two more swords from her gem and grinned. She attacked Steven ruthlessly, and knocked her sword from his grip. Jasper used the last of her strength to pick herself up and charge at the Gem Commander.

Yellow Diamond thrust her sword at Steven, and Jasper threw herself between them, taking the blade into her forearm. Steven shrieked, the look on his face was pure terror.

"Steven..." She gasped as the second blade pierced her straight through her stomach from behind. Jasper's body hit the sand, the blades sliding out of her as Yellow Diamond pulled back from her. She could hear Yellow Diamond's spine-chilling cackle as her body disappeared and she retreated into her gem.

Xxx

Jasper's body reformed, and she took in her surroundings. Steven was sitting next to her, holding Peridot's gem in his cupped hands.

"Steven! Are you hurt?" She exclaimed, pulling the small human boy into her lap and hugging him.

"I'm okay... When you poofed, I bubbled us. She couldn't break my bubble, but she could roll us onto her ship and put us in this cell. I hope Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are okay..." He responded, hugging her back tightly.

"What happened to them anyway?"

"The large marble robot landed directly in the living room. The Gems fused into Alexandrite, their largest, scariest form, and went into Beach City to destroy the robots there. I had to pull Peridot out of the rubble; a piece of the ceiling had fallen on her. When she was safe, I ran outside and watched Alexandrite fighting a giant robot! It sprayed her with it's acid and they all poofed! I saw Yellow Diamond tossing their gems in her hand. Then I heard you scream for Lapis. Now we're here on this ship..." Steven explained, his voice was shaking.

 _Lapis..._

Jasper hit her fist against the wall behind her, scaring Steven out of her lap. They were trapped behind a Gem Destabilizer field, but as a secondary measure, Yellow Diamond had set up metal bars behind it. She must have known Steven could get through the field. It didn't surprise her, the Gem Commander seemed to be one step ahead of her at all times.

"What are we gonna do?" Steven asked, looking to her for guidance. She had none to give, and she felt terrible. She was now the one behind bars, looking out hopelessly.

"How does it feel so be so pathetic, Jasper? Unable to save anyone, not even yourself." Yellow Diamond's voice echoed over the intercom. "I hope you enjoyed your month's with this Gem, because I'm going to make sure you never see her again."

Her voice fizzled out, and Jasper was dumbfounded. She was never going to see Lapis again? That couldn't be right...

Peridot's gem glowed, and she reformed next to the large disheveled gem.

"I can't believe she stabbed me!" She whined, rubbing her head.

"Peridot, I'm glad you're okay!" Steven hugged her.

"Eh... thanks." She patted his back a couple times before pushing him away a little with her foot. She turned to Jasper and saw that she was zoned out, staring off into space.

Jasper stood up and positioned herself in front of the camera she could see high up in the corner of her cell. "I know you can hear me. If anything happens to Lapis, you'll feel the full force of my rage. Like the incident at planet 46-29."

Peridot gasped.

Yellow Diamond responded with laughter.

LAPIS

Reforming from her gem was extremely painful for the ocean Gem. As soon as her physical body was formed, she was thrown against the wall and kept there with chains wrapped around her wrists, neck, and ankles. This was done to her by two Gem's she didn't recognize, probably some lackeys of her most recent captor.

The two Gem's retreated, and Yellow Diamond entered. She was an extremely terrifying Gem indeed. Instead of the usual yellow and white jumpsuit she wore on Homeworld; she was now completely covered in sparkling diamond armor. Her gem was smack in the middle of her chest. She was also larger than she remembered, but still shorter than Jasper.

Her eyes also burned with crystalline orange hues, looking like the ancient fires of war. Being a Diamond, her features were sharp, making her look all the more terrifying to Lapis.

"Why are you so insistent on keeping me trapped here?" Lapis demanded, struggling against her bindings.

"When you disobey the Diamond Authority, you must be punished. If we let Gem's like you get away with defying us, what's going to stop other planets or future planets from doing the same thing? We have to stomp your little rebellious fires out before we have another Civil War on our hands. Believe it or not, but we actually don't want to destroy our own kind. Sometimes we have to." Yellow Diamond replied, standing closer to her, casting her shadow over her.

"All I wanted was to be free, and you keep preventing me from achieving that goal." Lapis' spoke softly, grinding her teeth.

"Of course we have! You are a very powerful Gem, Lapis Lazuli. You are going to be the weapon that brings down my greatest threats. Jasper, and Rose Quartz."

"No!" She cried, kicking her feet against the wall she was bound to.

Yellow Diamond grabbed her chin viciously, and forced Lapis to look at her. "Maybe I'll stick you in a mirror for another 5,000 years, then when I bring you out you'll be so broken you would do everything I tell you to do."

Lapis spit in her face. The yellow Gem grinned, summoning her brass knuckles. She hit Lapis across the face, bruising her cheek bone and causing her to scream out in pain.

"That's one debt due to you, from when Jasper protected you. Like I said then, such a waste to damage such a pretty face." Yellow Diamond struck her once more, eliciting another scream from her, before dropping her to the floor. She tapped a button on an interface on the wall and a screen appeared, showing Jasper, Peridot and Steven.

"Lapis! What did you do to her!" Jasper growled. She must have been able to see her as well. Lapis covered her cheek, and watched tears build up in her lover's eyes.

"This is only the beginning of Lapis' punishment. By the time we reach Homeworld, your precious Lazuli will be little more than stardust. Since I'm a generous soul, I'll give you a minute alone to say your goodbyes." Yellow Diamond turned on her heel and exited the room.

"Lapis! I'm so sorry... She hurt you and I... couldn't protect you..." Jasper bit her lip; Lapis could tell she was trying so hard not to cry.

"Stop it Jasper! You have to be strong! You have to save the Crystal Gems, and you have to protect Steven. Don't worry about me. She's trying to use me as a weapon against you! You can't let her get to you!" Lapis wiped the tears from her own eyes, trying to ensure that they would be safe.

She was suddenly pulled backwards by the chain wrapped around her neck.

"Lapis I lo- NO!"

Yellow Diamond clasped Lapis' gem with her hand, and ripped it from her back, making her physical body disappear again.

JASPER

Jasper could only watch in horror as Yellow Diamond held Lapis' gem for her to see. She squeezed it, and the video feed went out.

There were no words to describe the inferno of rage that washed over her. It was like she was seeing through red colored lenses of hate and fury. Her senses were in overdrive. She summoned her Crash Helmet and cracked her neck. Peridot and Steven stood as far from her as they could. She performed a spin dash, breaking straight through the wall next to them. The cell was empty, but was only blocked off by a Gem Destabilizer field, no bars.

Jasper grabbed Steven and put him on her shoulders. She passed through, unscathed and put him down, so he could let Peridot out.

"Peridot. You need to get to the bridge and set a course back to Earth." She stated simply.

"What about you?" She asked, her voice was a little more high-pitched than usual.

"Just go!"

Peridot grabbed Steven's arm and they ran off down the hallway. Jasper looked down at her clothes, which were frayed and dirty. She used her gem magic to give herself back her old military outfit. She looked down at the yellow diamond adorning her chest, and watched as she changed it into a star. She clenched her fist and punched the wall in front of her, leaving it broken and falling apart.

"This ends today... one way or the other." She clutched her head, digging her fingers against her skull. She cleared her mind, focusing on the one emotion she had been holding back for a long time.

Hatred.


	30. Chapter 30

**PERIDOT**

Peridot and the Steven ran down the hallway, only stopping when she thought she heard voices. The Steven and her tread lightly, so as not to draw unwanted attention to themselves.

"Peridot... Did you see the look in Jasper's eyes? She seemed a little off..." The Steven asked.

Peridot gulped. She _did_ in fact notice a difference in the orange Gem's behavior, and what she saw was not a good omen at all. Jasper had mentioned the incident on planet 46-29, which absolutely terrified her.

"Steven, stop." She held an arm out, blocking the small human child from trekking any farther down the hallway. She peered around the corner and saw two Gem's conversing with each other in front of some cells.

"I heard the Commander say she was going to turn that blue Gem over to _her_ when we get back to Homeworld. Probably as another trinket for _her_ good graces."

"Well I heard that she already crushed that blue Gem, sending Jasper into a murderous rage. I've always been terrified of that one..."

The Steven tugged on her sleeve, pointing to a cell directly in front of them. Inside was Pearl, who was motioning them to run away. Peridot pulled Steven against the wall, just as the two Homeworld Gem's walked past their corridor. They were a lot larger and scarier than they sounded. She watched them turn the corner, before allowing the Steven to use his body to release Pearl from her cell.

"Peridot, Steven, I'm happy you two are alright! But it saddens me to see that you were also imprisoned on this ship. Tell me, what became of Jasper and Lapis?' Pearl asked while drawing her spear from her gem.

"Yellow Diamond has Lapis, and I'm assuming Jasper is on her way to attempt to save her..." Peridot couldn't hide the worry she felt from showing in her voice.

"Peridot... are you okay?" Pearl put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and Peridot remembered that she had an important task to complete.

"I'm okay. Please, you and the Steven should stick together. I need to get to the bridge and turn us around back to Earth. If we get to Homeworld; let's just hope we don't get to Homeworld."

"I understand. Steven, please stay close to me." Pearl nodded to Peridot, then led the Steven down the opposite hallway.

"Be careful!" He called to her before disappearing.

Peridot turned on her heel and ambled briskly down the opposite corridor. She paused a moment, and opened up her finger screen. She had to test a theory. It immediately connected to the ship's mainframe. That stupid yellow clod didn't even think to erase her from the maintenance database. She sighed with a bit of relief; she was the one who regularly maintained this ship after all.

She pinpointed her position in the ship, and headed towards the main control room. She hoped for all their sakes, that she didn't run into any soldiers. She had no way of defending herself without access to her robonoids.

As she ambled along, she found her thoughts trailing back to the look she saw in Jasper's eyes; she had only seen a fury like that twice in all her years knowing the orange Gem. Once on Planet 46-29, and once when she destroyed her fake lover Cuprite. Diamond's be damned if she'd tapped into that rage of hers again...

She stopped in front of two large multifaceted doors with a yellow diamond on them. She hijacked the door program on her finger screen and it opened the door for her. She peeked inside cautiously, seeing no one inside. She walked in, and locked the doors behind her.

She was about to connect her mind into the ship's control panel, when a monitor next to her caught her attention.

In the far upper right corner of the screen, she saw Lapis Lazuli lying on the ground where she was being held. Thick chains were still binding her, and it hurt Peridot's heart to see her like that. Upon closer inspection, she noticed something else about the room her friend was in.

It was completely covered with mirrors.

She couldn't begin to imagine the emotional turmoil the blue Gem must have felt, staring at the very device she was trapped in for 6,000 years. This was one of Yellow Diamond's favorite tactics though. She loved breaking a Gem's mental capabilities by subjecting them to their worst anguishes over and over. It was a cheap tactic, and unfortunately it was an effective one.

Peridot shuddered at the thought.

Lapis lifted her head then, and stared directly at the camera. To Peridot, it almost felt like she herself was being directly stared at. It was impossible though.

"Just kill me..." Lapis said softly. Her eyes were dull and emotionless.

Peridot's eyes grew wide.

"I can't... I can't take it anymore."

"So, you've finally snapped." Yellow Diamond laughed, appearing on the screen with Lapis.

Peridot clenched her fists.

"I just want to be free..."

A tear rolled down Peridot's cheek.

"And free you will be, my dear sweet Lapis. As soon as you agree to my terms."

"I..."

"LAPIS LAZULI!" Peridot screamed over the intercom, causing both Yellow Diamond and the blue Gem to look at the camera in shock.

"P-Peri?" She cried weakly.

"DON'T YOU DARE GIVE INTO THAT CLOD MONSTER! JASPER IS COMING FOR YOU, YOU JUST NEED TO HANG IN THERE!"

"But Peri... It's so cold in here... I'm so cold..."

The tears were streaming down Peridot's face now.

"I won't forgive you if you give up. You were there for me once. Now let me be there for you! You just have to be patient! We'll all be together again soon!"

Lapis' face lightened a little, and she took a deep breath. Peridot's tears hit the monitor; her nerves were completely fried from this whole ordeal.

"Shut up!" Yellow Diamond cut the camera to pieces with her sword, ending the video-feed to that room.

Peridot shoved her hands into the ship's mainframe and redirected the ship to return to Earth. She pinpointed Lapis' room on her screen, and prayed that she was able to get through to her. Jasper didn't need the extra help in becoming a raging monster, and Peridot didn't need to lose one of her only friends.

 **JASPER**

"29... 30..."

"Hey! You can't... Ugh!"

"41... 42..."

"Alert! Prisoner has es- Ugh!"

"56... 57..."

The floor surrounding Jasper's feet was covered with the sparkling dusty remnant's of the sixty Gem's she ruthlessly destroyed on her way to meet Yellow Diamond. She had no thoughts about who they were, or what their lives were like. None of that stuff mattered. All that mattered was the cold hard fact that she wasn't going to let anyone or any Gem stand between her and Yellow Diamond.

She would have her revenge.

"JASPER!" A familiar voice called her name. She turned to see Garnet calling to her from inside a cell.

"Stand back!" She demanded, before using her spin dash to break through the wall next to the fusion Gem.

"Something's wrong with you..." Garnet said softly, watching Jasper curiously.

"The only thing that is wrong about anything, is the fact that Yellow Diamond is still alive." Jasper turned, leaving Garnet behind her.

"Jasper, if you continue to follow the path you're on now... I foresee only tragedy!" Garnet called after her, causing the orange Gem to stop in her tracks. "Revenge will only lead to more devastation..."

"Don't you think I know what happens when you devote yourself to revenge? Look at who you're speaking to.. It's too late for one of your sentimental lectures about life and choices, Garnet. My mind is made up, and my path has been chosen. I will _not_ fail her again."

"If you do this you _will_ fail her."

Garnet's voice trailed off behind her, and Jasper refused to listen to her for any longer. Every second she wasted, something terrible was happening to Lapis. Jasper was now beyond words, or peaceful negotiations. Her heart had been re-hardened by hatred, chained by her wrath, and locked with a padlock of sorrow. Her own fate in her eyes; was sealed the moment Yellow Diamond stole Lapis from her.

Jasper entered a large room with a large out-looking window in the ceiling, revealing the darkness of space. It was just like the room back on Peridot's ship, where she first fought Garnet. Figure's. Peridot _was_ the one who designed these ships at the behest of the Diamond's.

She allowed herself a moment to stare at the stars. Visions of Lapis flickered across her mind. Those azure blue eyes, and soft supple cerulean skin. The way her eyes glimmered with the lights of millions of stars, the way her lips curled when she spoke her name so gently. The feeling of love tried to envelope her, but her memories weren't enough to combat the influx of anger; her hate threatened to consume her once more. Thoughts of revenge were the only thing she could focus on, the one emotion that was keeping her from giving up.

She heard many footsteps, and was soon surrounded by what she guessed to be about twenty Gem warriors. Crash Helmet on, and fists at the ready; she tore through them like they weren't even Gems, just some clumps of dirt.

"Are you kidding me, Yellow Diamond?" She bellowed, crushing the last gem against her helmet. "Stop sending your lackey's and face me yourself!"

There wasn't a response, only silence. Jasper slammed her fists on the floor, destroying the emblem in the center.

Heavy footfalls soon entered the room. Jasper's wish was granted, and there was her ex-Commander decked out in all her glory.

"Now _there's_ the Jasper I remember. Ruthless. Cold. You destroyed those Gems like they were _nothing._ Well done." Yellow Diamond praised her, clapping her hands together tightly.

Jasper let out a throaty growl, and charged at the yellow Gem. Yellow Diamond grabbed Jasper's arm and used the velocity of her charge against her. She was able to throw Jasper over her head and onto the ground like she weighed nothing.

Again Jasper ran at her, slamming her helmet against Yellow Diamond's chest. The yellow Gem grasped Jasper's helmet, and kneed her in the gut. She laughed.

"This is _Diamond_ armor Jasper! You aren't going to get through it that easily! Now, maybe if you yourself were a diamond..." She summoned a weapon Jasper hadn't seen her use for thousands of years. A golden chain wrapped around Jasper's body, binding her arms together. Yellow Diamond charged at her, slicing at her with her diamond encrusted sickle. Jasper leaned back just enough, to only have part of her jumpsuit sliced open.

"A kusarigama?" She grunted, pulling the chain off of her.

"Too flashy?"

"Why don't you drop the weapon and let your fists do the talking!"

Yellow Diamond shrugged at this suggestion, and her weapon disappeared. Jasper threw a punch towards her, but connected with the other's flat open palm. She could feel her fist being crushed under Yellow Diamond's strength. She tried to hit her with her other fist, but connected with nothing but air. Her body suddenly lunged forward as she was kicked in the spine.

Jasper was slowly starting to realize she really was no match for her. She couldn't match her strength, or her speed. There was a reason Yellow Diamond was chosen as the Commander, and it was being proven to her more and more with this fight.

"It doesn't matter what manner of fighting we conduct. You will not win!"

 **PERIDOT**

Peridot shoved open a large, heavy door she had presumed to be hiding Lapis. When she stepped in the room, the blue Gem was not there. The chains and mirrors were there, so she knew she had been in the right room.

"Dammit!" She yelled, picking one of the chains up with her suspended fingers. "Peridot, you clod..." She stumbled back against the wall, hitting a hidden button and causing a hidden door to open. She fell on her back, into a room full of monitors, and other Gem technology.

She picked herself up, and looked at the monitors. Her eyes locked onto Jasper and Yellow Diamond, who were facing off in hand to hand combat. She saw the Steven, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst running towards the fight; but Yellow Diamond did something and the room was blocked off with an impregnable door.

Peridot took a deep breath, and grabbed a Gem Destablilizer off of the desk, attaching it to her hip. Jasper needed her help, and she was the only one who could get them all inside that room.

Xxx

She had never run so hard in her life. She joined up with the Crystal Gems, who were frantically trying to break the door down. The Steven ran to her and said something she didn't even understand or remember at that moment. Her mind was too focused on other matters.

She found the interface for the door, and discovered a password protection for the door program. She entered the password.

"ERROR. INCORRECT AUTHORIZATION PASSCODE."

"The hell it is!" Peridot screamed violently, tapping furiously on her screen.

"WARNING. ONE MORE FAILED ATTEMPT WILL RESULT IN CONSEQUENCES."

Pearl covered Steven's ears just in time.

"You fucking piece of trash, I MADE YOU!" She slammed her fist against the interface.

"PASSCODE ACCEPTED."

The doors opened, and the five of them emerged upon a scene that made her feel sick. Jasper was down on one knee, bent over and breathing rapidly. Yellow Diamond's face was lit up with the most menacingly creepy smile Peridot had ever seen.

"Where's Lapis?" Peridot yelled.

"No... no... no..."

Peridot stepped towards Jasper.

"Don't move another muscle!" Yellow Diamond commanded, reaching into her armor and pulling out Lapis' gem. Peridot paused, eyeing her suspiciously.

"We can't beat her. No matter what I do, she's always one step ahead of me." Jasper uncovered her face, revealing a deep gash across one of her eyes. It looked like it had only narrowly missed her gem.

If Jasper couldn't defeat Yellow Diamond... They were in a lot of trouble. She looked to the other Gem's.

"You need to fuse! The amalgam's power might be enough to stop her!"

"Don't even think about it. I know all about Opal, Sugilite, and of course Alexandrite. Two of those fusions are so large they would more than likely destroy the ship. Last I checked, humans couldn't breathe in space."

Peridot stared at Yellow Diamond. Of course she knew about the fusions. Peridot had been such a good soldier, reporting everything to her Commander. She herself had never seen their fusions, only Alexandrite. She had been told stories about them though, and she remembered exactly what the report on them had said. Peridot held her hand up to her face, and watched it shake.

Yellow Diamond cackled, and turned her back to them. Peridot clenched her fist at this blatant act of disrespect. She watched as the yellow Gem opened up an interface and started entering some unknown commands.

"F-Fuse with me." Peridot said softly, walking slowly towards Jasper.

The orange Gem looked up and met her gaze. "What..."

"Just think about it. Maybe if you fuse with me, we can save Lapis. Yellow Diamond doesn't know anything about our combined amalgam! How could she? I don't even know anything about her..."

Jasper pushed up on her knee and stood, wiping blood from her cheek. She moved in close to Peridot. Yellow Diamond was still distracted by the interface. Peridot held out her hands, and Jasper took them, and they danced.

Their gems glowed, and they both allowed the transformation to happen. Yellow Diamond turned only to see an amorphous white blob.

"No!" Yellow Diamond hissed disdainfully.


	31. Chapter 31

The power we felt surge through our body was so intense, we stumbled a little before we took our stance against our common enemy. We could see fear in Yellow Diamond's eyes, even after she tried to wipe it from her face.

We allowed ourselves to look at our reflection, just to get a tiny idea of why we were instilling fear into the Gem Commander.

We were tall, but not much taller than Jasper was. We immediately noticed our two sets of arms, but that was our only abnormality; two arms had suspended fingers like Peridot, and the other two were muscular like Jasper's. Our body was a light green color, with Jasper's orange stripes dancing wildly across our body. Our outfit was a regular military jumpsuit, the top half looking like Peridot's; while the bottom half was Jasper's. A yellow star adorned our chest, along with a black outline of a star on our left leg. Our hair took a slight triangular shape, looking more like a fluffy lion's mane. Our eyes were a piercing yellow around our pupils, but towards the edges of our iris' the color blended into a piercing green.

Our name was _Variscite._ Each of our thoughts melded together as soon as we had fused, bringing with it a sort of, divine understanding between the Gem's who made us. Right now, there was one desire that we had burning through every part of our conscience; and that was the desire to save Lapis Lazuli, and destroy Yellow Diamond.

X

Variscite could sense Yellow Diamond before she was close enough to make physical contact with her. She leapt out of the way, and stood at the ready in front of her comrades. Yellow Diamond turned, and summoned two whips. Variscite summoned her crash helmet, but this time the extended hammer-like end of it was shaped like a star, and it was a lime green color. Her face was now covered with a protective visor, to keep her gem's safe.

 _To your left._ Peridot's voice said in their mind.

Variscite leaned left, and caught the whip around one of her arm's, stopping it from hitting Steven. She wrapped the tails around her forearms before pulling as hard as she could. Yellow Diamond flew forward, her head coming into contact with the new fusion's helmet.

 _Watch it, she's summoning her knuckles._

Variscite grabbed both of Yellow Diamond's arms, with two hands. She held one of her hand's with the suspended fingers up towards Yellow Diamond's face. The fingers retreated and a beam of light started to build up. A finger screen was brought up on her other hand, making a circle, and tapping on the center of it.

 _Firing._

Yellow Diamond kicked Variscite's arm that had the arm cannon, causing it to shoot right past her face, destroying the window above them. That's when she also noticed the blue sky; they were in Earth's atmosphere.

Variscite tackled Yellow Diamond with a powerful charge, causing the two Gem's to break through the opposing wall, and disappear.

"Steven, Amethyst, Pearl, the ship has landed. Let's get out of here!" Garnet yelled.

Variscite and Yellow Diamond crashed into a cliff, causing rocks to fall all around them.

 _Dodge to your right._

Variscite stepped to the right and grabbed Yellow Diamond's arm, bending it behind her back. She pushed the Gem Commander into the cliff, and dug her hand down into the armor. She could feel the smooth tear shaped Gem with the tips of her fingers, but she couldn't grab a hold of it.

 _She's going to swing her head back._

"Jasper, Peridot! I can help!" Steven ran up to them. Variscite slammed Yellow Diamond down into the ground, holding both arms behind her back; the yellow Gem struggling underneath her weight as she pushed her knee into her back. Steven cautiously walked up to Yellow Diamond and reached his small hands into her armor, grasping Lapis' gem and pulling it out. Variscite thrust him back forcefully when she saw Lapis' gem was safe, causing him to fly back into Garnet's awaiting arms.

Yellow Diamond started to cackle in a crazed, maniacal way, taking her off guard. Variscite rolled her onto her back and gasped. The shock of what she saw almost caused her to defuse. Yellow Diamond's gem had a dark swirl in it, spreading in it like veins made of darkness.

"You have failed." Yellow Diamond spat. "You wait, pretty soon you'll have a fully corrupted powerful gem to fight, and then you'll be wasted. I already sent a log of my plans to the others, so they know it won't be long until this planet is ready for..."

Variscite was tired of listening to this crazed Gem speak. While continuing to hold her down, she grabbed a hold of the diamond in her chest between her fingers, and started to pull with every bit of strength she could muster. The corruption latched onto her fingers, and slowly started to spread. Golden trails of light made diamond-esque symbols in the sand, until completely underneath them was a large golden diamond. Yellow Diamond was resisting with her magic, trying to keep the gem in place.

"What is she doing?" Pearl cried, grabbing onto Garnet's arm and taking a step away from the fighting Gem's. "If they become corrupted, we will have no choice but to..."

"Jasper! Peridot! Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Garnet called to Variscite, shifting her glasses uneasily.

Variscite didn't give up. If she could pull the gem from Yellow Diamond, her body would disappear, and she could be bubbled away. Destroying an actively corrupting gem wasn't an option; it would cause every Gem in a huge radius to be infected with the darkness. That was _not_ going to happen.

A blue glow caught the corner of Variscite's vision, and she turned to watch as Lapis reformed. Her heart sank, and her fused form wavered, as Jasper's overwhelming need to run to her tried to take over her and Peridot's consciousness.

 _Jasper stop! We have to finish or all of this will have been for nothing!_ Peridot yelled in their mind.

 _But Lapis! Look at her Peridot! She needs me!_

Variscite's form wavered again, but Peridot kept it together.

 _If you let Yellow Diamond go now, we may never have another chance to take her down! None of us will survive, including Lapis!_

 **LAPIS**

Lapis reformed, feeling weak, lost, and confused. She remembered being tortured in the room with mirrors; and she remembered Peridot lifting her out of a darkened state of mind with her encouragement. She also remembered Yellow Diamond ripping the gem from her back enough times for her to still feel the pain in her spine. She saw they were back on Earth, due to the coarse sand she could feel between her toes.

"Lapis!" Steven ran towards her, but she blocked his path with a large arm made of water from the ocean behind her.

"Don't come any closer." She said harshly.

"Lapis, you look terrible!"

She looked at her arms, and saw that they didn't reform healed. She hadn't taken enough time to heal; if she would have it might have taken her a couple weeks to be back at full strength. Her arms were bruised, and she felt awfully sore. She saw the fusion Variscite in front of her, realizing immediately that it was the combined amalgam of Jasper and Peridot.

Upon seeing this, she was furious. She raised a wall of water high above her head, tears streaking down her face. All the emotion she had held back while on the ship had built up, and she wanted to release it upon the two Gem's in front of her with full force. Variscite turned her head, and Lapis froze, seeing the tears streaking down the fusion Gem's face. She saw Jasper through her eyes, and could sense Jasper's urge to break the fusion. She saw their bodies defuse a little, but pull back together by sheer force of will. She understood that feeling all too well; the feeling of wanting to do one thing, but _needing_ to do what was right. Instead of attacking Variscite, she slammed her water hand back down into the ocean and fell to her knees.

A beam of light suddenly shot up into the air, and a shock-wave erupted from Yellow Diamond's body, knocking everyone in the vicinity back, including Variscite. It looked as if they had succeeded in ripping her gem from her body, because it was now floating in the air above the sand, her body turning to dust and disappearing in the wind.

Lapis watched Variscite stand once more, and walk over to where the blue Gem was kneeling. The larger fusion knelt in front of her and offered Lapis one of her hands. She took it, and was lifted up onto Variscite's shoulder.

"I was so worried about you." Variscite said softly, nuzzling her cheek against Lapis. Lapis giggled a little, pushing her face away gently.

"I'm alright.. But that..." She pointed towards the floating diamond, "is really concerning me..." The gem was still glowing, and sending up a beam of light into the air.

"She really did it, didn't she." Variscite said to herself. "She's morphing, I can sense that it won't be good." She held her hands up, creating a shield against another shock-wave that erupted from the diamond, protecting her face and Lapis from flying debris.

Yellow Diamond's body was starting to reform, taking on a much larger beast like appearance. She had succeeded in corrupting her own gem, turning herself into a monster. When she was fully formed, she looked like a large worg-like creature, with fur as hard as diamond's, pointed out in spike's along her back.

"Steven, you need to stand back and let us handle this!" Pearl pointed her spear at the diamond beast.

"That won't be enough, we need to fuse again." Garnet said.

"Garnet!" Variscite joined the others. "If Alexandrite can beat her down, I'll be able to use my ultimate ability, and destroy her physical body once and for all. No, it's too dangerous you clod, don't even think about it; using that ability could destroy us all! No it won't, not if we focus... I swear you're going to kill us..."

Garnet reached out and shook Variscite's arm to stop her from arguing with herself. "You can do this Jasper and Peridot. We'll leave it to you."

The three Gem's fused into Alexandrite, and Lapis looked up at that fusion Gem in awe. A four Gem fusion was not something to mess with. Hopefully they would be able to keep it together long enough to actually allow Variscite to do what she needed to do.

The two fusions with Lapis charged at the Diamond Beast. The worg opened it's maw and lunged at Variscite, who, by some odd luck was able to dodge those sharp crystal teeth, and slam her fists up into it's jaw. Lapis held her arm out, using her hydrokinesis to throw a torrential column of water at the beast, pushing it against the cliff wall.

Alexandrite reached around the beast's back and pulled it up onto it's hind legs, holding it tightly with all six of her arms, revealing the Gem embedded in it's chest. It gnashed it's teeth wildly, struggling to get away, but it also seemed weakened, like the transformation had sucked away it's strength. It was now a cornered animal, but Alexandrite was stronger.

"I can see it!" Lapis yelled, pointing towards the beast's chest. It started to pull away from the huge fusion. Lapis sprung up and flew into the air, summoning two large water arms that became shackles around the Beast's front legs and neck, helping to hold it against the cliff wall.

Variscite put her four arms together and pointed them out in front of her. Her gem's began to glow, also causing the stripes on her body to emanate a vivid orange light. Her suspended fingers curled around and made the shape of a large circle.

She had turned her arms into what Lapis thought looked like a large arm cannon. She watched as electricity sparked though the circle, building up energy that looked very similar.

"Is that Gem Destablizer energy?" Lapis inquired curiously.

Variscite grunted, so she took that as a yes. She watched the fusion's hair fly around her as she charged power; making her look fierce and terrifying. The ground below her sunk in a little, causing sand to start whipping around her like a sandstorm.

"Alexandrite, you need to move! I got her!" Lapis cried out, pushing more of her energy into her watery shackles. The beast bit at Alexandrite, and the huge Gem fusion opened her second mouth and bit down hard onto the beast's neck, breaking some of the shards. The diamond's were weakened...

"Seriously, move!" She reiterated.

With what seemed to be a lot of effort on her part, Alexandrite finally moved out of the way leaving Lapis as the sole Gem holding down the Diamond Beast.

"Firing!"

An extremely powerful electric laser shot from Variscite's arm cannon and hit Yellow Diamond in the gem.

 _Lapis!_

The light beam refracted, and shot back towards Lapis and Steven. Alexandrite took the blast, protecting the small human child. Lapis felt herself pulled from the sky as Variscite took the blast head on, the electric energy zapping her gem's. Lapis watched her disintegrate as she fell to her knees, and fell face forward towards the sand. Their body poofed, and she gathered the two gems up and tucked them into her top.

She was then able to watch as Yellow Diamond's last ditch effort to destroy them crumbled away, the diamond fur turning to dust, leaving only a cracked yellow diamond lying in the sand. Steven ran up to it and bubbled it, sending it off to the temple. He ran towards Lapis and embraced her, sobbing loudly. Sometimes it was hard to remember that this Gem was still just a human child.

She stroked his hair gently, and pulled out Peridot and Jasper's gems from her top.

"See, Steven, they're okay." She said comfortingly.

She couldn't help but giggle softly as he licked both of his hands and slapped them on the two gems, just to be sure. Lapis noticed a darkness in the gems that disappeared as soon as Steven's healing spit touched them. She helped Steven gather the other four gems, and they went down to the shore to watch the tide roll in.

"You're not mad at Jasper for fusing with Peridot, are you?" He asked suddenly, grabbing Lapis' hand and squeezing it.

"Oh Steven, of course not..."

"They did it for you y'know. It was Peridot's idea. Neither one of them could bear the thought of losing you, and I think that's what allowed them to defeat that awful Gem. I knew that if she was fighting for you, she could do anything." He smiled, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Lapis blushed. She felt silly for even letting a single jealous thought cross her mind. Instead, her thoughts turned to what Yellow Diamond had said, about having sent off a message to Homeworld... She shook the thought out of her mind, she didn't even want to think about that right now.

"I'm really tired Lapis, but look at this mess. And my house..." Steven sighed. His home was completely destroyed.

They walked to the pile of rubble together, and dug through it, looking for the one thing he really cherished more than video games, clothes, or toys; and that was Rose Quartz's picture that usually hung up above the door. Lapis lifted the broken door up, and there they found it, completely unscathed and perfect. Almost like a symbol of her undying love for all of them.

Steven and her laid the couch cushions together against the temple wall, and sat there waiting for the other Gem's to reform. They both slowly fell asleep, their heads leaning in against each other for support.

Amethyst was the first to reform, curling up next to Steven without saying much of anything. Garnet was next. She picked Steven up, and placed him in her lap. She smiled at Lapis, making her feel more comfortable about leaning her head against her. Surprisingly, even Pearl and Peridot reformed.

Lapis jumped up and smiled at the green Gem in front of her. She had reformed with the dorkiest human clothes ever; a large turtleneck sweater with the vertical lines, and a big yellow star in the middle. She was also wearing sweatpants and slippers. Peridot blushed as Lapis hugged her tightly, the blue Gem was not able to _not_ cry at the sight of her.

"So, does this mean you're not cross with me?" Peridot managed to ask through Lapis' sobs.

"If you ever do it again, I'll crush you." Lapis laughed nervously. Peridot cracked a smile and squeezed Lapis in return.

"Jasper isn't reformed yet?" Peridot asked into Lapis' hair.

"No..."

"Well, she was the one who directed most of the energy blast into her gem, to protect us." Peridot pushed back on Lapis' shoulders and wiped the fat tears from her eyes.

Suddenly the two were hoisted up into a tight bear hug; held together by strong arms and tickled by a mane of fluffy sand colored hair.

"Jasper..." Lapis cried, turning to shove her face against the larger Gem's chest. Lapis had felt so happy at that moment...

"Welcome back Jasper." Garnet said. Amethyst gave her the 'peace' sign, and Pearl smiled warmly at them. Jasper looked down and met Steven's gaze.

"Hug time!" She laughed, and all of them circled around into one giant group embrace.

Xxx

It took the seven of them two weeks to fix up Steven's house, making it better than ever. Well, it actually looked more or less the same, but with more love put into fixing it up. Lapis was putting a photo into a frame, and was hanging it up underneath the photo of the original Crystal Gems. It was a picture of Jasper, her and Peridot. Jasper was pulling Peridot's mouth into a smile with her fingers, Peridot was giving Lapis bunny ears, and Lapis was smiling happily, finally being able to call somewhere home.

Never had she ever dreamed that she would end up with these two Homeworld Gems, making friends, and falling in love. After living in a mirror for so long, she didn't think she would have ever forgiven the universe for sending her on that path of life.

Lapis tried not to sleep, because she was awakened by nightmares, replaying the torturous details of her confinement in Yellow Diamond's ship. The Gem's crazed look in her eyes when she was about to transform still haunted her, even in her waking memories.

Jasper was always there though, to hold her and remind her why she continued to live on, and why she no longer felt like she was a prisoner. She was truly free now, truly happy, and truly in love. Now that was something to rejoice for.

There was a knock on their temple door, and Lapis waved it open, without even bothering to leave Jasper's embrace to see who it was. They were fully clothed, so it's not like they were gonna scar Steven for life if it was him.

"Hey you guys, it's like, 1pm! Are you ever going to wake up? I want to hang out!" Steven said, climbing onto the bed and jumping on them.

Jasper growled at him, and wrapped her arm around his head, pulling him down into the bed and silencing him with her bicep. He struggled underneath her, until Lapis pulled him out so he could breath. She playfully smacked Jasper, who groaned and sat up, yawning loudly.

"I just want to sleep." Jasper groaned, resting her chin on her hand and staring at the human child.

"Gem's don't even need sleep!"

"I need sleep unless you want me to eat you." She retorted.

"Eugh.."

"Jasper, stop that. We should get out of bed and do something anyway." Lapis rolled out of the bed, and straightened out her side of the blankets.

"So, now that you guys are officially apart of the Crystal Gems, I have to write a new song." Steven laughed, pulling out his ukulele from his back and strumming on it.

"Ugh... No singing this early in the morning..."

"We are the Crystal Gems, we'll always save the day, and if you think we can't..." Steven started to sing.

"I'll punch you in the face." Jasper said, glaring at the small boy.

"Jasper, no, we don't punch people in the face just for having a difference of opinion..." Lapis laughed nervously.

"Jasper yes." She fell backwards into the blankets, and started to snore. She must legitimately be really tired.

"I'm sorry Steven, maybe when she wakes up on her own we'll come out and hang out." Lapis chuckled at the confused boy.

"Oh one thing before I go." Steven said before leaving the temple door.

"What?"

"So when are you guys gonna have a baby?"

Lapis' jaw dropped, and her face flushed. She knew how babies were formed by humans, so the fact that he would even say that to her...

"Steven... I think it's time you go ask Pearl about why that isn't going to work."

"But you're Gems, and I'd think it would be super cute if you did!"

"Steven!" Lapis yelled while chasing the small boy out of the room.

Of course Gem's had their own way of reproducing but... the thought at this moment... was too much to even think about. Even though she had always wanted offspring...

She found herself looking at Jasper, and blushed.

That would have to wait for another time.

 **Well that's the end! Of Book One anyway. *cough* I hope you guys liked Variscite. There were many different reasons why I chose that particular mineral to be the fusion of the two. I also tried so hard to stay away from OC's, but with the hiatus and not knowing if they would ever fuse anyway, I just went for it.**

 **Variscite** - **is said to promote courage and your inner strength. It was used by healers to relieve stress, and enhance higher brain functions such as learning, logic, and reasoning. Also to find self acceptance.**

 **So, the smart strategy and technological stuff is Peridot. The physical strength and bullheadedness is Jasper. Combined, it was as if Jasper was enlightened, actually being able to think before acting. When all their thoughts were finally mushed together, they accepted themselves and where they were in their paths of life. Being fused instilled courage into their amalgam and thus Variscite was born. Also if you google Variscite, you'll get a lot of very teal colored stones. But, the raw mineral form can be a very green color, with the orange hydrous oxides of iron, which is why it stuck in my brain so much. Anywho, I'll stop writing here and let you people have fun!**

 **One more thing, yes, there is going to be another book. Why? Because I'm trash for this ship and someone _had_ to go and mention little Gem babies. Later!**


End file.
